Changing Course
by mstotaldrama100
Summary: An AU beginning at the end of the Rider where Wander never meets the monster and instead meets someone who has less than noble intentions for him. Will Wander be able to figure this out before it's too late? Will Sylvia manage to get to Wander in time? And where will Hater fit into this situation? Rated T just to be safe!
1. The Meeting

**Summary: An AU starting at the end of "The Rider". Lord Dominator sees an opportunity in Wander's vulnerable state and takes it. After all, she would like the…intimate company.**

* * *

Wander was walking somberly through the endless deep space, his pace almost at a turtle's speed. His green, floppy hat, which was normally found on top his head, was now clutched tightly in his hand.

Normally, traveling through space didn't bother Wander, even during the times he was all alone. The darkness and unknown that bothered and scared so many others had never caused Wander any fear (and even if it had at one time, that fear had long since eroded away with more experience). But now…

Now that he was all alone, now that he had been practically abandoned by his partner, now that he had been cast out like garbage by someone he considered his friend…

Well, space definitely felt much more lonely.

Otherwise, Wander felt completely numb and emotionally detached from reality. He didn't want to face the possible reality that he had LITERALLY JUST lost Sylvia, his best friend of many good years, to a morally questionable partner. The very idea, even at the farthest corner of his mind, was enough to make the nomad like his world was going to crash around him.

After about 15 minutes of walking in his orbble bubble, Wander found a relatively small, out of the way planet he could rest at. In Wander's opinion, it looked kind of depressing with such a dull grey color scheme, but Wander was quick to mentally reprimand himself.

 _'It ain't the planet's fault it doesn't look like other planets. Besides, it probably has a lot of other things to offer…maybe there's a little village that needs helpin'!'_ This thought brought a new sense of hope to Wander's eyes, and he quickened his speed towards the planet.

* * *

After a minute or two, the space nomad had walked so close to the planet's Rocky surface that he was floating only 3 feet from the ground. Cautiously, Wander slowly popped the bubble with his finger and bent his knees as he fell to the ground. Wander easily recovered his balance, everso agile, and straightened his posture as he gazed around at the landscape.

"Wowie, not a soul in sight…" Wander murmured to himself. Honestly, the planet looked even _worse_ than from space; there was nothing but Gray, barren rock and large craters for miles And miles, with a sky full of dark, angry clouds…

"Th-this is okay, I'm-I'm fine!" Wander said to himself, griping and moving his hat around in his hands. "Don't be negative, just…look on the bright side Wander. I mean, you're…still alive, that's one thing! Oh, and you helped those people with their fruit carts and helped Rider's friends find Rider-oh, but…then they tried to kill us, oh!"

Unconsciously, Wander walked over to a nearby crater and hopped onto the edge as he talked to himself. He looked straight at the ground, trying to think about more positives in his situation. Had he ever finished helping that tiny family unpacking their stuff? That could probably count as…

All of the sudden, all of the emotions the nomad had bottled up the whole time hit Wander full force, something he could only liken to being hit by a runaway train at 200 miles per hour.

"Sylvia, she…she left me…she really left me…" Wander whispered, the dam of tears he had been holding back now coming down in heavy streams. A guttural cry emitted from him as his hands went to his face, automatically wiping the falling tears away. This left his green hat to fall on the ground, its brim curved in a way that made it seem like it was frowning.

Wander didn't like showing this emotion, he didn't like feeling this sadness at all. Even when no one was there to see him cry or mull over such melancholy thoughts, the wanderer had always refused to feel sad. It had always made him feel so helpless when his emotions were so raw And in the open, something he never wanted anyone to see.

In a way, this had been coming for a while. After all, no one can stay happy forever…

Wander continued to sob for 5 minutes straight, his weeping the only sound on the entire planet.

Now…now Wander*hic*, don't be selfish…" Wander began, sobs still racking through his body as he forced his hands to his sides. "If Sylvia wants to have hard-core, violent, inconsiderate space adventures with someone like Rider, then you gotta let her! You…you'll just have to find another partner…someone strong…and smart…and brave! Someone who, though they act all tough, has a cream center of _goey-goodness!_

And then, when you inevitably get yourself into trouble, they'll always find a way to get you out of it, no matter how bad things seem!

…I mean, that wouldn't be so hard…right?"

Silence was Wander's answer, and after a few moments the star nomad resumed his crying. He didn't even notice the person coming up towards him, slowly, silently, and cautiously. The person picked up Wander's hat from the ground and brushed the dust off of it, twirling it around before saying anything.

"Hey, I think you dropped this." To Wander, the voice seemed to come out of nowhere, which (naturally) scared the freaking crud out of him. He didn't respond at first, his throat still raw from crying. The person didn't seem to mind that, and instead they sat next to the nomad, hugging him close and stroking his head as if he was a close friend.

The two stayed like this for a while, with the person sometimes murmuring 'it's alright to cry' and 'just let it out'. Eventually, Wander found the strength to pull away, a smile finding its way on his lips.

"T-thanks for…you know, helping me friend." "No problem, bud, happy to help!" The woman said, a warm smile on her face and _whoa she's really beautiful._

Wander found himself staring in shock at the person who had come to comfort him, not sure whether or not she was real. She was a tall, curvy humanoid girl, most likely in her early 20s, unlike anyone he had seen in his travels. She had light green skin that was sprinkled with pink freckles on her cheeks, white, shoulder length hair that was lopsided to her right, and eyes with striking electric pink sceleras that were accented with tear drop shaped mascara. Her outfit was quite colorful, with a short sleeved blouse splashed with patches of blue, green, orange, and cream colors, a cream colored pair of trousers, and copper, ankle high boots.

"What're ya staring at, sweetie?" The woman asked, not at all snappy but more…flirtatious perhaps?

"N-nothing! It's just…well…" What could Wander say? _'Your outfit doesn't look right for a traveler'_? That would be just rude, especially after she just comforted him. "…Well, I never got your name!"

The woman gave a lopsided smile, arms in her lap. "I go by…quite a few names. But you can call me Genesis."

"Why that's a lovely name! Folks call me Wander!" Genesis giggled at his enthusiasm, excited herself that he was more lively. After this fit of giggling passed, Genesis took the initiative to ask a question she had just thought of.

"So, Wander, are you waiting for anyone?"

"…Well, no actually." Wander bit his lip as he said this, trying not to get himself crying once again. "I was traveling with someone before, her name was Sylvia, but she left me pretty recently. Just now actually."

"Wow, that explains why you're so devastated!" Genesis exclaimed, sympathy clear in her tone. For a moment, she was silent, and Wander wondered if he should just get going.

"Well, I should probably go and-" "Why don't we travel together?" Genesis interjected as Wander reached for his hat still gripped in the girl's hand. The nomad almost froze at the offer: did she really mean that?

"Are…you sure? I…have a tendency to find trouble where ever I go. And by that I mean I almost get killed at every planet by a villain trying to destroy me." Wander expected to see the green-skinned girl change her mind when he admitted this. Instead she just shrugged nonchalantly: "Whatever, I've had that happen to me in a couple of galaxies too. Besides, I can handle a couple of baddies."

Genesis stood up, plopping Wander's hat on top of his head before intertwining her hand with his and pulling him onward. "Come on, my ship is nearby! It'll only take a few minutes to get there."

"Oh, okay…" Wander felt kind of uneasy at the idea of getting into an unfamiliar ship with a stranger he just met. Of course, trusting as he is, this only lasted a moment before Wander excitedly followed, any sadness he had before being pushed away by the thought of traveling with a brand new friend.

* * *

 _'Wow, I can't believe it was so easy to convince him to do this!"'_ Genesis, AKA Lord Dominator, thought as Wander followed her closely behind, like a trained dog on a leash. Oh yes, this would be fun…


	2. The Bond

**Author's note: This is chapter 2 of the Changing Course AU. In this chapter, Genesis will show even more of her true colors, but her plan will remain vague.**

 **Know that I don't own Wander over Yonder or its characters! Enjoy!**

* * *

Genesis's ship only took about 10 minutes of walking to reach, but the shadow managed to cover Wander and Genesis about 5 minutes earlier. As they got closer and closer to the hulking beast of a ship, the nomad had to wonder both how he hadn't seen/heard the ship earlier and why one person needed such a large, intimidating ship.

The ship appearance-wise was unnerving. The ship was about 20 stories tall, with a black, skull-like base with horns taking up about half of that. The parts that looked like eyes and a sort of mouth opening was glowing green, drawing even more attention. As the the ship went further down, red veins grew and became more and more prominent, with the wide underbelly of the ship being blood-red. Any openings in the ship also glowed bright electric green. It reminded Wander a bit like Hater's ship with the skull at the center of the craft, but Wander thought that Genesis's ship was more than 100 times bigger than the skullship.

"Welp, this is my safe haven in the deep recesses of time and space!" The green alien declared, snapping the wanderer from his observations. "Isn't it Great?"

"It's really…great!" Wander finished, his grin curving up a little bigger when he saw Genesis's eyes sparkle.

"I figured you'd love it! I know it's a big overwhelming at first, but you'll get your way around!" The girl pressed a button on a remote she seemed to produce out of thin air (but probably just took out of her pocket when Wander wasn't paying attention). Instantly, an opening appeared in the ship's underbelly with a red light that covered Wander and Genesis like a blanket. "Just stay relaxed, this'll only take a moment…"

"…Whaddya me-ANNN?!" Wander felt jolted when the world suddenly started spinning furiously around him. The colors grew unbearably bright and the sounds unbearably loud. Wander thought it would last forever, which was why he was so relieved when the experience was suddenly over, leaving him coughing on the floor.

Genesis grabbed the smaller alien by the shoulders, lifting him up onto his feet. "Sorry, should of given you a better warning. But anyways, here's the inside of my ship!"

The teleportation beam had apparently enough them to the main hallway, which resembled the outside of the ship colorwise(Wander wouldn't consider that a bad thing-The ship's interior walls and floors looked kind of pretty for such dark colors). The hallway was, at the very least, 15 feet tall and 15 feet wide, giving Wander plenty room to move about.

"Like I said, it's a bit overwhelming at first, but it isn't too hard to get the hang of moving around here. All you have to do is snap your fingers and say what room you want and the ship will do the rest! You try!"

Glancing at Genesis before starting, Wander hesitantly did what she told him to do.

"*SNAP*Bedroom?" Wander's hesitancy soon transformed into amazement as one of the walls moved And shifted as easily as wet clay until a Wander-sized hole was created in it and all of the walls behind it. "Whoa, THAT'S AMAZING!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?! That's one of the reasons I LOVE this ship, it almost seemed linked to your mind!" Genesis tapped her index fingers against her temples to signify this point. "Well, I need to get the ship to lift off before someone spots us. Goodnight Wander!"

"Goodnight Gen!" Wander said chirply, but then asked "Can I call you Gen?"

"Sure, whatever floats your boat!"

"Thanks Gen, see you in the morning!" Wander told Genesis, jumping up and wrapping his arms around her waist in a sort of hug before bounding off to find his room, humming his theme song as he went.

* * *

Genesis simply stood there in the hallway, waiting patiently as Wander's footsteps faded away And the holes in the wall closed up. As soon as the coast was clear, Genesis burst out laughing.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, I can't believe that IDIOT already put so much trust in me! He really is as gullible as he seemed on camera!" Genesis continued to laugh maniacally, her eyes gleaming with evil glee. When the laughter finally ceased, she clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Man, it's almost sad how trusting he is! It kinda makes sense though, given what just happened to the little guy. I ACTUALLY feel bad for him-but then again, not THAT bad! HAHAHAHA…"

As the evildoer finished cackling, she took a gasp of breath and regained her composure. "Alright, now that that's done, got to get back to work! After all, I don't want that lamo Hater getting in the way!"

Genesis snapped her fingers, whispering "The Bridge" before letting herself being lifted up by the ship's floor rising under her feet, and then disappearing through the hole made in the ceiling.

* * *

Once Wander finally reached his new bedroom, he admittedly found himself pleasantly surprised. Unlike the rest of the ship, this room was bright and filled Wander with a relaxing aura. The room was small but cozy, with pastel pink walls that had multiple beautiful paintings on it and pastel green carpeting that felt good against his feet. The room also had a dark brown, wooden desk, a matching chair pulled up against the desk, a light brown dresser against the wall, a door at the corner of the room leading to the bathroom, and a twin-sized bed that has a white wool blanket covering the mattress.

"Wow, this place looks great." Wander stepped farther into the room, allowing the hole in the wall to fully close like the hole was never there. "Alright Wander, try to be as nice as you possibly can. This lady gave you a place to stay and is nice enough to let you travel alongside her. Things'll be fine; I mean, this isn't the first time you split up with a partner and it probably won't be the last."

Setting his hat on the desk, Wander jumped onto the bed and under the covers. He felt his body sink into the mattress like a rock in a pond, his tense muscles screaming in relief. It had been many years since Wander had slept on the mattress instead of on the floor of a planet or inside his hat.

It was easy for Wander to close his eyes and drift off into a pleasant sleep, the lights of the room automatically turning off.

* * *

The next morning, Genesis was in the ship's kitchen, still dressed in yesterday's outfit and cooking up a storm. She was cooking eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, pancakes, hashbrowns-The whole 9 yards! She was working on flipping the pancakes while simultaneously scrambling the eggs when Wander entered the kitchen, his fur in the style of bedhead.

 _'Aww, he's cute even when he just slept 12 hours straight!'_ Genesis thought to herself, a small smile playing on her lips. Watching the small guy out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pull up a chair at the counter, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"'Morning sleepyhead! You're just in time for breakfast!"

Wander yawned, smiling sleepily. "Good morning Gen. Do you need any help?"

"Yeah actually. Just set the table with plates and glasses and put the pitcher of juice on the table. I'm almost finished with cooking anyway" Nodding, Wander hopped from his seat and got straight to work.

Wander took only a couple of minutes to set the table, which was impressive given how he was able to make the table look like they were having brunch at a fancy restaurant rather than breakfast at home. As Genesis piled the food onto her plate, she asked him what he wanted from the feast of food.

"Oh, it's fine, I can get it myself." As the green girl poured Glorpberry juice into their glasses, she watched as Wander put two pancakes, a piece of French toast, and a scoop of hashbrowns onto his plate(a small plate in Genesis's mind!).

Breakfast was not at all silent, one or the other talking in between bites about the planets they've seen and the fun things they've done. Wander described how he had once crawled through the swamps of Kee-ton 6 looking for an Immensapede's missing contact lens, while Genesis gabbed on how she spent a whole three months living among the Agae, a race of camel-like people who lived on the unforgiving landscape of their half desert, half volcano planet. By the time breakfast was eaten and plates put in the sink, both had told practically all of their most interesting stories.

"So, Wander… Wander, Wander, Wander…" Genesis repeated, his name rolling on her tongue. "That's a really interesting name. You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone with that name before."

Y'know, that's actually a funny story. Y'see, Wander isn't my real name, it's just something the people here call me by."

"Really? You just go by whatever name people call you?" Genesis asked, unbelieving. Wander nodded, confirming this belief. "That sounds so weird, I mean I can't imagine people calling me a different name in each galaxy!"

"It wasn't too weird for me. The names were pretty simple, like in one galaxy I was named Tumbleweed and another Drifter-oh, and in one galaxy I was just called Orange because of my orange fur!"

"So, why conceal your real name? And what IS your real name?"

"Iiiii think I'll tell that story later. Now it's my turn to ask you a question!" Wander exclaimed, tapping her on the nose playfully. "So, how'd you get this ship anyways? Did ya win a bet against a Baa-hallian warrior? Did ya buy it in an Azzeb silent auction? Or maybe-"

"HEY! Calm down, give me time to explain!" Genesis told him, punching him playfully. But secretly, she knew that telling a good story would mean the difference between success or failure. Taking a deep breath, Genesis began weaving her tale.

"Now, I didn't actually get this fairly. I'm not saying I stole it, I just…took it for a good reason! Stealing is taking stuff for your own needs!

A couple of years ago, I was wandering around the Proixois Nebula when I came face to face with a villain called Lord Dominator. I don't want to…get into details about what happened, but I learned that he was using an element in some planets called Volcanium X to power his ship and his battle suit, which by doing so destroyed that planet."

Genesis paused, taking in Wander's engrossed expression before continuing on. "Eventually, I found out his weakness- Frostonium 17. I used it to defeat him and took his ship so he couldn't hurt any more people! Sometimes, I have to stop to…refuel, but I'm always careful not to hurt the planet!"

"Wow, that's a great story. So, what ever happened to Lord Dominator?" Looking into the nomad's eyes, Genesis could tell he believed every word of her story. On the inside she was squealing at the feeling of sweet success, but on the outside she remained completely calm.

"I honestly don't know. He could be dead, he could be stranded, or he could be traveling the galaxy again, I've never checked! I just know I DON'T want to met him again! Buuuttt enough about me, I think it's about time you and me went exploring! I'm thinking we could stop by the planet of Agria, famous for its gardens and good food!

"Wait, really? I've always wanted to visit that planet!"

"That's great! I know all of the best places to go, you're going to love them! Just give me a minute to get dressed and then we'll get moving!"

"Great, I'll go get dressed too!"

The two then proceeded off to their rooms, both excited at the prospect of exploring…

* * *

Five hours later, the pair found themselves running for their lives from Evil Sandwhich's guards and Evil Sandwhich themself. Genesis carried Wander on her back and held him as tight as possible as she struggled to avoid the lasers being blasted at them. She was successful for the most part, but one or two of the lasers grazed the green girl scarily close, which made her run even faster.

"MOVE FASTER YOU IDIOTS! WHY ARE YOU MOVING SO SLOW, EVEN A TODDLER COULD MOVE FASTER THAN YOU!"

"WANDER, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THIS SOCIOPATHIC SANDWHICH?!"

"I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW!" Wander told Genesis before ducking his head to very nearly avoid being blasted by a stray laser. "WHADDYA THINK WE SHOULD DO?! THEY'RE GAININ' ON US!"

"DON'T WORRY, I HAVE AN IDEA! GIMME YOUR HAT!" Hesitantly, Wander hands Genesis his hat, and the girl immediately rips it from his hands. Twisting and turning through the thick plants of Agria, Genesis sprinted towards a cliff a few feet away. "HANG ON!"

With the guards right behind them, Genesis let out a loud war cry and jumped off the the cliff's edge.

And then proceeded to scream as she falls down the cavernous hole, having completely missed the opposite clearing.

The guards and Evil Sandwhich stop at the edge, watching as the aliens disappeared into the darkness, their screams fading to nothing.

"Well, looks like they're both dead!" Evil Sandwhich finally said after a few moments of silence. "Come on men, let's go and continue conquering this garden planet!"

The guards obeyed this, all of them walking away from the cliff like nothing had even happened.

At the bottom of the pit however, Wander and Genesis are alive and well thanks to landing on the blown-up blow-up mattress that Genesis had pulled from the hat. Realizing they had actually survived (mostly) unharmed, he loosened his grip on the girl and fell onto the mattress.

"Good thinking Gen, I don't think I would've thought of that!"

"Eh, I was actually hoping to use the hat as a parachute or something, though that probably wouldn't have worked. This worked out, like, WAY better!" As Genesis got off of the mattress, she looked down at her sleeveless, crimson red sun dress that was now in tatters. "And this dress is definitely ruined. Great…"

Genesis took a couple of steps forward, only to wince in pain when her bare feet (she lost her sandals while running through that stream) hit the sharp, gravel-like rocks. Naturally, Wander went straight into helper mode.

"Oh, are-are you okay?"

"What do you think?!" Genesis snapped, hopping over to the mattress and once again sitting down. She surveyed the damage, finding that she had laser burns on her arms and a particularly large burn on her thigh. Lifting her feet up, she winced when she saw her feet was caked in dirt and covered in scratches and bruises.

As soon as Wander saw this, he gasped. "Oh, you poor thing! I can't believe you got hurt because of me!"

The green girl scoffed at that notion. "It isn't your fault that sandwich had a bone to pick with you."

"But you still helped me! Don't worry, I got exactly what I need to fix you right up!" Grabbing his hat, the wanderer proceeded to search his hat for a first-aid kit. Unbeknownst to him, Genesis was watching with amusement, a smirk finding it's way on her lips. She wasn't nearly as hurt as she conveyed herself to be; these injuries were like a papercut due both to her powerful regenerative ability and her high pain threshold.

But hey, who was she to complain about the attention Wander was giving her! After all, this would only serve to further her plan even more quickly.

Eventually, Wander said "AHA!", confirming that he had found what he was looking for. As soon as Wander did this, Genesis changed her scheming face to a straight, annoyed face, trying to act as genuinely embarrassed as possible.

"I found the first aid kit! Now, let's dress up your wounds!" Oh so tenderly and with a surprising amount of precision, Wander cleaned her feet with rubbing alcohol and wrapped them tightly with gauze. Then, he started to address her burns, first cooling them with a bag of ice before applying ointment to them and covering it with gauze.

At one point, Wander glanced up at Gen, only to see her face had turned bright green right before she looked away, suddenly finding the sky to be very interesting. The nomad choose not to say anything, something he rarely had the willpower to do, and continued to dress her wounds in silence.

Secretly, Wander knew that he and Genesis had started bonding, but in a way he never felt before.

* * *

 **And that's the end of chapter 2! Things are going a little slow, but I assure you that the plot will still remain interesting.**

 **So, what do you want to happen next? Tell me in the reviews or just PM me! Thanks!**


	3. The Party Animal 2

**Chapter synopsis: When Emperor Awesome arrives on Tebulan 7 to throw another planet destroying party, Genesis and Wander are forced to face off with the self-proclaimed King of Cool to save the planet and their own skins.**

 **Characters featured:**

 **\- Wander**

 **\- Genesis (Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Emperor Awesome**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

It had been a little over a week since Wander and Genesis first meet, and things were interesting to say the least. They hadn't had any more encounters with any villains so far, but had almost died several times already thanks to Wander's helping hijinks.

On Planet Confection, Wander was arrested for almost accidentally eating one of the residents, and was only released after Genesis convinced the judge that he didn't know the cookie baby was alive. On Bothboopin, a planet where music was outlawed, the two were forced to make a hasty retreat into the forest after Wander played his banjo for a sleeping child. Though these distractions could rack on her nerves, the green girl found these distractions equally entertaining at the end of the day.

The current planet they were on was Tebulan 7, which was a rather normal planet with few distinct features from other planets. Nevertheless, Wander and Gen had fun spending the day just walking around and exploring, with no people seeming to need help that day. They enjoyed exploring the planet, and so they decided to spend the night at one of the planet's 4 star hotels and possibly stay for the rest of the next day.

Alas, things wouldn't stay so calm as the night progressed…

* * *

Genesis was sleeping soundly in the hotel room, in a state of pleasant, dreamless sleep. She was soon jarred from her slumber by a loud BOOM that echoed through the planet.

Snapping her eyes open, Genesis looked around the darkened room in a state of alarm. Eventually, her eyes found the electric clock on her side table, which read _2:37 A.M._

The girl groaned loudly, pushing her head back into her pillow. "Ugh, you have got to be kidding meeee…" Genesis said, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow. It was definitely way too early to deal with whatever was going on right now. She momentarily contemplated just going back to sleep, but that thought was thrown out the window when she heard her hotel door slam open.

"GEN GEN GEN! YOU NEED TO COME CHECK THIS OUT RIGHT NOW!" Yelled Wander, but in excitement rather than fear. The bed shook as Wander jumped on the bed, shaking Genesis furiously to try and snap her awake. Deciding that there was no possibility at falling back to sleep, the green girl lifted her head out of her pillow and felt around the night stand for the lamp. Realizing Genesis was awake, the wanderer leapt off the bed and allowed her the space to sit up and turn on the lamp.

"Hey Wander," Genesis greeted, still half-asleep. "do you know what's going on out there?" The wanderer nodded impatiently, a huge grin on his face.

"Oh yeah, it's one of my buddies! He's on the Galactic Villain Board, but he's pretty fun!"

"Oh man, I hope it isn't that Mandrake the Malfeasant guy!" Or Lord Hater. Having him come around and mess with Wander this early in her plans could really mess things up.

"I don't think so! Also, who's this Mandrake fella?" Before Genesis could answer that question, the room was illuminated with a plethora of blinding colored lights that was coming outside.

 **"HELLO TEBULAN 7, WHO'S READY TO PAR-TAY?!"**

In an instant, Genesis recognized the voice. "Oh no…" she murmured, shaking her head lightly. "It's-"

"AWESOME!" Wander cried, jumping in the air with joy and pumping his fists into the air. "Come on, let's go meet him!"

"Wander, wait-" But Wander had left before Genesis got the second word through her lips. Grumbling, Genesis pulled herself out of the warm embrace of the blankets and made herself get dressed.

* * *

10 minutes later, Genesis was riding the elevator down to the lobby, wearing a simple red tee, a pair of skinny jeans, and black sneakers. Even in the elevator, she could hear the blaring music and the chaos going on outside.

Honestly, Genesis hated Emperor Awesome with every fiber of her being. She had never meet him formally, but from what she had seen and heard of him she was _glad_ she hadn't. For one he looked completely ridiculous in his party outfit and makeup, because really, who wouldn't think a shark wearing lipstick was funny?! The second reason Genesis despised Awesome was that all he was doing was going to planets, partying with a captive audience, and leaving the destroyed planet. Sure, Genesis had destroyed a couple of planets for fun or to get Volcanium X, but the way the shark-man went about it was laughable, and she had always wanted to say that to his face.

But of course, what was her place to say that when she had no weapons and no ship and he had an entire army by his side?

Dear grop, why did they have to stop at this planet?

The elevator soon dinged to signal it had reached the first floor, the door sliding slowly open. As Genesis stepped cautiously out of the elevator, she found herself being dragged through a wave of panicked citizens that were fearfully streaming through the hotel.

"AH-HEY! STOP IT-OW!" The green girl pushed her way through the cephalopod-like people, being kneed or elbowed every other second until she reached the front entrance of the Hotel de Tyrrell and was practically thrown into the street.

When she picked herself up, she found Wander watching the party a few blocks away with great interest.

"Wander, thank grop you're still here! Listen, we need to find some orbble juice and GET OUT OF HERE!" "We can't leave! We need to stay and party with Awesome!" Wander said, looking at her as if he couldn't believe she would suggest leaving. Not surprisingly, Gen flipped out.

"What?! Are you out of your mind?! I mean, even you have to know that this guy is bad news!"

"Come on, he can't be that bad. I mean, sure his parties have destroyed countless planets, but…" Wander trailed off, seeing the raised eyebrow and frown on his friend's face. It was then he sighed, his grin turning into a frown. "I know, I know. But we have to at least help these people save their planet!"

Genesis crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Oh please, how can we do that?! I mean, we don't even have weapons or a way to get to him!"

Wander clicked his tongue disapprovingly, taking off his hat while doing so. "Now now Gen-Gen, we don't need weapons! We can get the old hat to give us what you need!" Holding his hat up to Genesis, he eagerly pushed it into her hands. "Go ahead, take somethin' out!"

Without hesitation, Genesis shoved her left hand into the hat and combed through it for something to grab. She was almost surprised at how deep was, it seemed almost endless. And then at last, Genesis grasped onto something and pulled it out, believing it to be a weapon.

What she found in her hand was a black stiletto heel shoe.

"What?! Well, I'll just…" Dropping the shoe on the ground, the girl pulled another object out of the hat, only to find the object was an orange wig. "Come on, stop giving me junk!"

A dress was pulled out.

"No."

A leather jacket, reading "PARTY DUDE" on the back was pulled out.

"No!"

The other heel is found and she throws it hard on the ground.

"NO! STOP IT! STOP GIVING ME CLOTHES!" It would be a lie to say that Genesis was only pretending to be frustrated. What was this freaking hat's deal?!

Genesis continued to pull articles of clothing, jewelry, and make up out of the hat at a rapid, frustrated speed until the two are surrounded by a sea of outfits and accesories.

Finally, Wander forces the hat from her hands as gently as he possibly could.

"Relax Gen, the hat gives you what you need, not what you want." Wander then smiled widely, picking up a leather jacket with the words "PARTY DUDE" bedazzled on the back. "And it looks like we need to go incognito to get onto the stage!"

The first thing that went through the normally enthusiastic girl's mind was _'How could have not known about the magical properties of the hat?'_ She had watched Wander so intently for so long, and yet she missed this one detail?! Urgh!

The second thing that crossed her mind was the unbelievable fact that the hat was _actually right!_ She was without her suit, her ship,or even the basic carrier weapons like a dagger strapped to her thighs or a blaster in her purse(well, she had the second thing, but she lost it to the mob in the hotel lobby.)

So, with a groan, Genesis picked up a load of discarded items and walked towards an empty alleyway.

"Ugh,we're never coming here again…" Genesis grumbled as she entered the alleyway, Wander too engrossed in making his own disguise to listen or object.

* * *

A few minutes later, Wander and Genesis were close to the entrance of Awesome's party, hiding in a nearby alleyway to stake out the scene.

Wander was wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, black fingerless gloves and red high tops, his hat tucked away in his jacket. It made him look more edgy, a strange change from his normally folksy look. Genesis was also wearing a party-suited outfit, but one more colorful than Wander's: it consisted of a black studded choker, a pair of fake diamond earrings, a hot pink sequin dress that reaches her knees with only one, long sleeve, and black wedge heels. She was also wearing maroon lipstick, thick black, glitter eyeshadow, and thick mascara. Gen thought they looked both ridiculous and rager-ready, but knew the ultimate test was getting past the guard.

The green alien adjusted the hot pink Bob cut on her head so that it covered all of her hair, then took Wander's hand into hers. Cautiously, the two walked out of the alley and towards the bulky fistfighter guarding the red velvet rope that acted as an entryway.

 **"LOVIN' WHAT I'M SEEIN' PARTY PEOPLE! LET'S KEEP IT GOIN' ON!"**

 _'Good, he's still going strong. This will make beating him much more fun.'_ Genesis thought as she approached the fistfighter, inwardly and outwardly smirking amusedly for very different reasons.

"Hey dude, that's a sick party you got there. Me and my boo saw it a couple of blocks away and decided to check it out. Can we go in?"

"Hold up, I haven't ever seen you two at one of Awesome's parties before." The guard said, his mouth-head moving to show he was talking. "Who are you?"

"Ugh, does it matter? All we wanna do is party-"

"PARTY!" Wander screamed, pumping his fists into the air.

"-and it appears as though we're in the right dress code. So can we please get in now?"

"Mmm…you know what, sure." With that, the guard opens the velvet rope and moves to the side to let them pause. Squealing, Wander ran without hesitation into the mob. The Orange blur disappeared within seconds.

"Well, at least he didn't do that right when I started talking." Genesis noted aloud, the fistfighter only nodding in agreement. "Alright then…let's do this…"

Genesis began making her way through the crowd, treading carefully to avoid stepping on anyone's tentacles. It wasn't too hard navigating at the back of the crowd, where there were less people to worry about. Unfortunately, as the front of the stage grew closer, the crowd grew denser.

With only a few feet to go before reaching the stage, Genesis was trapped between willing and unwilling partygoers alike.

"AGH! MOVE OUTTA THE WAY!"

"WE CAN'T! WE'RE JUST AS TRAPPED AS YOU ARE!"

"RELAX GURL! AWESOME WILL PROBABLY DESTROY THIS LAME-O PLANET SOON AND WE CAN GO TO THE AFTER PARTY!" The woman with only Lips for a face received a very angry glare from the green skinned girl, but continued to groove to the beat.

 _'I can't believe I'm stuck in this crowd of stupid people! I hope Wander isn't doing anything too stupid while I try to get myself out of here!_

* * *

Wander had finally reached the stage after a few minutes of weaving randomly through the crowd. This made him incredibly giddy, especially since he had the opportunity to party with Emperor Awesome once again (Even though he was aware on some level that Awesome had a vendetta against him. He always did enjoy a good party and remembered the time he and the shark man had had a dance off fondly).

He watched the shark-man dance on stage for a few moments, finding himself mesmerized by his fluid and impressive dancing, the colorful lights, the loud music, and the whole party scene overall.

Since Wander's attention span wasn't necessarily long, this moment of astonishment was thankfully short. The nomad walked up the steps to the stage unhalted because the fistfighters were also too engrossed by their boss's performance.

"Awesome! Hey Awesome! It's me, Wander!" Wander received no response, not even a sideways glance, from the Emperor. Realizing the shark-man must not have heard him, Wander walked closer to Awesome. "I said, heya Awes-"

Suddenly, something came down on the wanderer from the heavens. He flinched at the sound of a metal clang and the rush of air around him. Looking around, he realized he was now in a cage, and a very cramped one at that.

"Wander, surprised you're here." Awesome finally said to Wander, pausing in his dancing to address the nomad. Wander was relieved to at least be noticed by his 'friend', but this relief was short-lived when he saw the look on Awesome's face.

It was a mixed look; one of anger, frustration, and-in a strange way-pleasure. His red lips were in a tight, open mouth smirk, his white top row of teeth gleaming. The way the shark scanned the wanderer made the latter feel uneasy.

Taking the microphone, the shark-man shouted, **"HEY EVERYBODY, I WANT TO INTRODUCE A LITTLE SOMEONE. THIS GUY…"** Awesome indicated to the trapped orange alien, **"IS WANDER. THIS LITTLE GUY SINGLE-HANDEDLY MADE A PLANET SO UNCOOL I CAN NEVER GO BACK AND PARTY ON IT AGAIN!"**

A chorus of boos came from the Fistfighters and a few from those in the crowd. Wander didn't understand why Emperor Awesome, even if he was on the galactic villain board, would twist that event in such a way. After all, he hadn't ever done anything to intentionally hurt him!

Awesome lets the booing pan out for a few seconds before continuing on with his speech.

 **"ANYWAYS, SINCE I AM AN AWESOME GUY, I'VE DECIDED TO GIVE THE LITTLE GUY A SECOND CHANCE BY ALLOWING HIM TO COME ALONG TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE PLANETS AND PARTY WITH ME AND MY BROS AND SISTERS!"**

Wander took the Mic in his own hands, smiling in nervousness now. "Gee, that…sounds nice and all, but I really don't think I want to be partying 24/7."

"If ya don't want to party, why'd you even come on stage dressed like that? Besides,you can't change your mind now, so just do your thing while I get ready to destroy this place, okay little dude?"

The cage rattled as it was lifted up into the air, and at last Wander's smile fell as he realized he was really trapped right now.

Genesis watched this entire event unfold on the large television screen behind the stage, her mouth twisted into a furious scowl. How dare Emperor Awesome capture her Star Warrior and think that no one would do anything to stop him?! That-that pathetic excuse for a villain wasn't going to capture her puzzle piece, not without a fight!

"AGHH, EMPEROR AWESOME! I'M COMING FOR YOU!" Gaining her second wind, Genesis sprinted-to the best of her ability in such a dense crowd- to the front of the stage, not caring the cries of pain emanating from citizens with injured tentacles.

She grabbed the edge of the stage and pulled herself up, but struggled to keep her grip on the stage. She had just managed to just get her elbows past the edge when she felt herself grabbed by the arm and hoisted into the air. Her eyes widened when they met the eyes of Emperor Awesome himself.

"Hey there, babe. Haven't seen you at one of my parties before. I'm assuming you're with the little guy, right?"

"What do you think, King Sushi? Let me and Wander go or else I'll twist your arm until it's shattered."

Emperor Awesome raised an eyebrow at that, giving a slight chuckle. "Pretty big threat for a girl of your size huh?"

He dropped the green girl on her feet, still sneering even as Genesis glared at him and rubbed her tender arm.

"You know, you are pretty cute, but I prefer girls who can back their threats."

"Trust me, I'm more than just a pretty face…"

"GENESIS, AWESOME, DON'T HURT EACH OTHER!" Wander screamed from his spot, comically cupping his hands around his mouth. "I'M SURE IF WE JUST CHAT OVER HOT CHOCOLATE AND COOKIES AT THE HOTEL, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE!"

Both Emperor Awesome and Genesis roll their eyes at this statement, Genesis shaking her head slightly.

"Anyways, I'm not going to let your friend go just yet. He's messed with my plans once and I'm not letting him do it twice!"

"I said let him go!"

"Pfft, what are you going to do if I say no?"

 _'That big, stupid, meathead…'_ Genesis felt her hands unconsciously turn into fists, and with a single motion punched the shark man straight in the jaw. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd and Wander himself as Emperor Awesome stumbled back, rubbing his pained jaw.

The fistfighters eventually came out of their daze and started to rush onto the stage. However, all of them halted as Awesome held up his flat hand, looking at Genesis with a very serious look.

"Fistfighters, stand down…" Awesome slowly walked towards Genesis, the microphone in his hand dropping on the ground and causing a static to ripple momentarily through the speakers. His voice is in a near whisper now: "So, it's a fight you want. Well who am I to deny you a fight with the King of Cool, brah?"

With that, Genesis suddenly felt the wind knocked out of her as she was sucker punched by the large alien straight in the stomach. Knocked off balance, Genesis gasped for breath as she quickly regained balance. She moved out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the shark once again, and the punch meant for her only hitting empty air.

Then, she did a double back flip and landed a couple of feet away, being able to kick him in the chest while back flipping. Once she lands, she takes up a boxing stance before moving cautiously towards Awesome.

This caution does her naught, as Awesome is able to land a blow to her nose, and then another to her torso. In response, Genesis wraps her hands around his neck and her legs around his abdomen and headbutts him as hard as she can. The audience once again gasped when Awesome fell onto the floor and Genesis proceeds to punch him in the face repeatedly.

"STOP! MY FRIENDS SHOULDN'T FIGHT!" Wander yells out, flailing his arms frantically. "Oh dear, I need help!" Taking off his jacket, Wander pulls out his hat triumphantly. "Please, have somethin' good, my friends depend on it!"

Back below, Awesome has finally pushed Genesis off of him, and at full force. She rolls fast and hits the large TV, causing a huge crack in it. She unsteadily stands back up, muttering something about her wig as she throws it off, her hair messy and wild. She felt blood trickle down her nose and onto the stage, staring intently at the shark-man. She wasn't sure if she could keep up a good fight at the pace she was going; she needed to make an exit plan.

"Not too bad Jessie-girl, not too bad…"

Genesis tilted her head slightly in confusion: Jessie-girl? Looking down at her dress, she briefly wished she had wore a pair of shorts and that strange multi-colored shirt as she once again charged at the shark-man, screaming as she prepared to punch Awesome.

Awesome quickly got ready to block it by forming an X with his hands in front of his face. As soon as Genesis gets close enough though, she jumped into the air, using the shark's hands like a diving board. Going incredibly high, Genesis manages to grasp onto the bottom of Wander's cage and yanked herself in front of Wander while she held onto the bars.

"Wander! Are you okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine!"

"Good, let's get outta here and-"

The cage suddenly shook as it quickly moved to the ground, Awesome standing there to greet them.

"Where are you going sweetie? We're just getting ready to crank it UP!" As soon as Emperor Awesome snapped his fingers, two fistfighters turned up the stereo volume to maximum power. The crowd was filled with horrified and pained screams that Emperor Awesome ignored.

Grabbing Genesis by her throat, he whirled her around to face him and slammed her against the cage as she kicked and clawed at him.

"Sorry that I have to mess up such a perfect face, but I can't have any party-poopers at my parties!"

As Awesome prepared his free fist, the green girl was struggling to get out even more when she felt Wander grab her hand and force something small and cool into her hand. She only had to look down at his briefly before knowing what is was, and struggled to keep a straight face in front of Awesome.

"So just don't struggle much and it'll be over-" Without warning, Genesis blinded the shark-man with 10 seconds worth of pepper spray. Emperor Awesome let out a extremely loud scream, releasing Genesis to rub his burning, tearing up eyes.

Grabbing the remote controlling the cage that was in his pocket, she only had to push one of the buttons before Wander's cage literally fell apart.

"COME ON WANDER, WE'RE GETTING OUTTA HERE! GET ON MY BACK!" Wander does this, his arms wrapping around her neck and her arms holding his legs in place.

They were ready to get out of this planet: having said that, there was still one thing Genesis had to do.

Pressing a couple more buttons, the stage went dark and left everyone standing in pitch black. The fist fighters weren't sure what to do or where the now-fugitives were, but could hear Genesis's grunts among the still raging music. The sound of punching and two fistfighters grunting was heard, and following that the music was completely turned off.

As soon as Genesis turned the music completely off, she ripped the dial from its place and threw it onto the ground. Satisfied with her work, Genesis raced off the stage and ran down the side of the crowd, kicking and punching any fistfighters in her path.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET THEM-Ow my eyes!"

"Wander-Orbble-now!"

The two were soon surrounded an Orbble bubble Wander made and got lift off within seconds. The fistfighters that had their hands on blasters tried to hit the bubble, but totally failed because it was dark and they were still confused about the situation at hand.

Before anyone knew it, the mysterious heroes disappeared into the depths of space. The citizens continued to cheer, relieved and filled with happiness that their planet was saved. This left Emperor Awesome still fuming on stage, his eyes still an irritated red as one of his fighters approached him.

"So, do you want to pack up and leave or…" Awesome gave the fistfighter a furious look, a growl escaping from his throat. "…Yeah, thought so…"

* * *

A few minutes passed of just silence, the two waiting to see if Emperor Awesome had followed them. After those few tense minutes, they both figured that they were in the clear.

"That was amazing Gen, but I wish you hadn't used so much violence. One thing I gotta ask though: how'd ya know I had Orbble juice with me?"

"I remember you used some to get onto the planet when we first met. I figured you probably have a lot left over."

"Oh! Good observations Gen!" Wander hopped off of Genesis's back after he said that, taking off his glasses and jacket and putting it back in his hat. By then, the two had reached the desolate planet that the ship was left in record time. The planet was very close to the planet they were just on, and so it surprised Genesis how no one had taken notice of it.

As they were teleported to the main hallway, Genesis felt even more disoriented from the teleportation than she usually did. She rubbed her throbbing temples once the process was done, hoping Wander didn't notice.

He did, unfortunately. "Are you doing alright? Is anything hurting?"

"It's fine Wander, but I appreciate your concern. I just need to go to the medical room and get myself patched up."

"…I'm sorry for gettin' us into trouble again. It's been barely a week and you've gotten hurt protecting me again!"

"And again, I'm telling you it isn't your fault. Those jerks were looking for trouble!" Genesis crouched down to Wander's height, cupping his face in her hands. "Wandie, I don't want you worry about me. If I put myself in danger because of you, that's my business. Listen, I can handle myself pretty well, so I'll be alright.

It's really late. Just go to bed and I'll go to the medical room and then tomorrow we'll see what happens."

Smiling gently, Wander nods, hugging Genesis tightly as he muttered a thanks to his friend. Then, he placed a soft kiss on her cheek, something that honestly shocked the girl. Before she could say or do anything the wanderer ran off, a smile still on his lips.

"What the…?" Muttered Genesis, unsure of how she should react. She rubbed the cheek Wander kissed thoughtfully, finally getting back on her feet. Putting her hand down, she snapped her fingers and said "Medical room, now!" when she remembered that she could possibly have a severe concussion from hitting her head on the TV screen and headbutting Awesome.

* * *

Genesis stared straight at the ceiling as she sat on the white medical table, waiting as the medical drone scanned her body for any external and internal injuries. She forced herself to stay completely still to avoid any errors in the robot's scan, not that it would matter anyway. She had constructed and tested the robot herself and knew it had a 97.91% success rate whether she was sitting still or running all around the room. Still, it never hurt to be careful.

At last, the medical drone finished its analysis of its mistress and creator. It stood straight up and gave its report:

"Scan complete. Detected: No bones broken. Detected: All vital organs functioning at maximum health. Detected: bruises on upper torso and left wrist. Detected: swelling in the nose, but no broken bones. Recommendation: one dosage of Idunif and appliance of ice on nose and upper torso."

Genesis nodded to signal her understanding, holding out her hand as the drone dispensed 2 tiny, triangular, green pills. Swallowing it dry, she shooed the medical drone off as she sat up and put her chin in her hands, the events of that night plaguing her mind.

 _'That was way too close a call. I can't let anything like this happen again. I need to keep a closer eye on all the villains and make sure we never cross paths with any of them, especially Lord Hater…'_

Another thought came across her mind, one she pushed back in her mind but still acknowledged:

 _'I have a crush on that little wanderer.'_

* * *

 **Author's note: That's the end of 'The Party Animal 2'! Looks like Genesis is actually defrosting…well, deburning her stone-cold heart.**

 **If you noticed that Genesis used the term 'star warrior' when thinking about Wander, you're probably wondering why she called him that. Rest assured, all will be explained later, so for now enjoy the sweet moments.**

 **Next up: The Trip/The Escape**

 **Key info.:**

 **-More Lord Dominator**

 **\- Lots of foreshadowing to Dominator's true plan.**

 **-SYLVIA RETURNS! YAY!**

 **Have a good day, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. The Trip, The Escape

**Sypnosis: Wander has to travel to another galaxy to help a friend, leaving Genesis to her own devices. M** **eanwhile, Commander Peepers interrogates Sylvia, but faces trouble when an unknown villain attacks the facility.**

 **Characters featured:**

 **\- Genesis (Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Wander**

 **\- Commander Peepers**

 **\- Sylvia**

* * *

The Lord Dominator ship was extensive in build: Dominator had planned the layout of it herself. It was one of her greatest masterpieces, made from 100 of tons of Volcanium X and technology from the extremely technologically advanced Ak'om. There were 100s of rooms, including a large armory, a throne room, a prison,(all of which Genesis did her best to hide from Wander), a library filled with hundreds of books, and a movie room.

Currently, Wander and Genesis were in the movie room. The room itself was small, with only a single couch in it, but the movie screen was 30 by 20 feet, with huge speakers adorning the ceiling. The movie screen was playing the end of one of the countless cheesy romantic comedies they had fished out of Wander's hat.

The green girl could care less about the plot of the movie, having spent half the time surreptitiously on her phone. She had never liked romantic movies: all those sappy moments, all that kissing and romantic stuff was so boring and so predictable and so…well, stupid. She liked violence-filled action movies and gory horror movies so much more than the romantic trash Wander liked. Genesis would never show the movies she watched to anyone as sensitive as Wander; her favorite horror movie _Hollow Hangman_ was so realistic and so terrifying that any normal person would have to see a therapist for 2 months after watching it.

Wander had paid attention to the movie…for only the first 20 minutes. After that, he had started talking to Genesis about how he had once been to the galaxy's biggest movie theatre, and had somehow been mistaken as one of the 4th grade students visiting on a field trip! The rest of the story was in tired, indecipherable mumbles that gave away how exhausted Wander was after 34 hours of being awake. The nomad had actually curled up next to Genesis and fallen fast asleep halfway through the movie. His head lay on her top of stomach and his arms crossed over his chest, a goofy grin on his face even while dreaming. Unconsciously, Genesis stroked Wander's back, enjoying the warmth Wander radiated.

Then, a notification on Genesis's phone(which she held in her free hand), saying something along the lines of _'Check out who's number one on the Villain Board: Iggy Starbeam and the Maltars of Flarn!'_

"Iggy Starbeam's at the top? Really?" Clicking the notification, the app soon appeared on her phone. The first thing it showed was Iggy Starbeam performing a guitar riff as he rode through space. Scrolling past it, Genesis saw the top ten on the Villainboard, which (unsurprisingly) included Emperor Awesome and the Evil Sandwich, skimmed through all those that came after it, until finally she saw the statistic she wanted:

 ** _#36 Lord Dominator_**

 ** _Planets Conquered: 3_**

 ** _Planets Destroyed: 14_**

"Heh, looks like Dom is doing pretty good on the villain board." Genesis whispered to herself, quiet enough so as not to alert Wander. "Compared to these other guys who've been on the board for years and only have 3 or 4 planets, you're doing fantastic!"

Genesis put down her phone when she heard the play screen music coming through on the speakers, signaling that the movie had went through the end credits and looped back. Carefully, she picked up Wander's head from her stomach and gently sat him up on couch. She stood up from her spot on the couch and began made her way towards the DVD player to take out the movie when-

 **RING! RING!**

The sound made the green girl perk her ears as she searched the room for the sound. She reached the nearby lighswitch and illuminated the room, searching for the source of the ringing. Her eyes landed on Wander's hat, which buzzed with each ring.

Letting out a soft sigh, Genesis plucked the cursed hat from Wander's head and grabbed what looked to be a tin can with a string attached to the end of it; the other end of the string was attached to the hat.

The ringing stopped as soon as Genesis grabbed the tin can phone. An echoed, faint voice began talking on the other line, none of the words audible to Genesis at first.

She moved the tin can up against her left ear, and the words became clear.

"Uh, hello? Who is this?" The voice went silent for a moment, but continued on again.

"Oh, sorry. The name's Jeff, and I'm looking for Tumbleweed. Is he there?"

Genesis's mind instantly remembered the name-Wander had mentioned that it was one of his alias a little while back.

Briefly, Gen glanced at Wander, who was still fast asleep, snoring gently as he breathed. She made the decision not to wake him up; mostly because she wanted to see who this guy was.

"Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about." Said Genesis, walking to the side of the love seat and leaning slightly against it. "He's busy at the moment. Just…tell me and I'll relay the message."

"Are you sure you can't get him? This is really more of a…serious issue. I think he'll wanna hear this himself."

The girl's eye twitched, starting to get very angry at this Jeff fellow. "Ugh, listen Jeff, I really-"

"JEFF?!" In an instant, the tin can was literally ripped from Genesis's hand, leaving her holding a whole lotta nothing as Wander proceeded to chat away.

Yes, Wander. How he had someone woken up so fast at the simple sound of the name was beyond Genesis, but then again he had surprised her countless other times.

"Jeff, is that you?…Yeah, it's Tumbleweed, but I'm going by Wander right now!…uh-huh, I'm just relaxing with my friend Genesis. You probably already talked to her." Wander listened silently to the person on the other end for a few moments, tapping his foot gently.

Then, Genesis witnessed his composure completely change: his back straightened, his eyes widening, and his smile becoming a frown. "Wait, are ya sure?…W-wow, that sounds real bad! Don't worry, I'll be there as fast as I can! I'll call you when I'm near and you just meet me at Delta Eridani!…Okay, bye!"

Wander put the phone back into the hat and put the hat back onto his head. He looks up at Genesis, the look in his eye telling her he had something on his mind.

"Let me guess, you gotta go help someone?" Genesis asked, her lips curving into a small grin. The nomad nodded,shifting his weight a bit.

"I need to go to the Fisheye Nebula. The people there are fighting in a civil war and it's reaaaaaalllly bad! Jeff wants me to come over there and help stop all the fighting before they use this thing called an 'Tonic Bomb' or somethin'."

"…I'm also assuming I can't come, right?"

Once again, Wander nodded his head up and down, biting his lip. "The situation is… real delicate, and I'm not sure if the people will respond well to seeing your big, dark, scary warship. 'Sides, it'll take a whole week to even reach the Fisheye Nebula, then another week AT LEAST to make the treaty itself; I don't want to drag you all the way there just for that!

I'm sorry that I'm leaving you alone for so long, ah hope you understand…"

It was at these words that Genesis had a gleeful, awful thought: _'More than two weeks with Wander away…that's a lot of time to bring Dom up to the top and knock off that Iggy Starbeam from his pedestal…"_

Within a few seconds, Genesis made an easy decision. "It's fine Wandie, go on your mission: I'll still be here when you come back! Just promise me one thing…"

Wander looked at her with a tilted head, puzzled. "What?"

The green girl smirked playfully, turning around and walking towards the door. She paused at the doorway only for a moment to look back at Wander. "Go to a seafood place while you stop at Fisheye; they have to have good fish!"

Genesis then walked out of the room, Wander smiling lazily as he felt relief spread through him.

* * *

Commander Peepers had been one of the first to take notice when Wander and Sylvia had so suddenly disappeared.

Of course he was the first to realize this: he was closest to Lord Hater, and was able to see the events that occurred with them first hand. The problem had began a couple of months back, when they had tried to conquer Binglebopolopolis and Lord Hater ended up losing to Wander in a "Greatest in the Galaxy" contest. Since then, traveling the galaxy had been characterized by the constant appearance of Wander and Sylvia on almost every planet they conquered or had planned to conquer. Once or twice they had even come onto the Skullship, evading every attempt to attain them. On all of these occasions, they had managed to annoy his boss Lord Hater to his wits' end and thrown the overlord's quest to galactic domination completely off track.

Yes, their presence around Lord Hater had grown into one that Peepers come to expect, though he did rather sullenly. The commander had learned through many failed attempts that catching them or making them stop was as impossible as walking on air; Wander was filled to the brim with determination to make Lord Hater his friend, and Sylvia could take down the entire Watchdog army with little trouble. It was…like the unstoppable force against the immovable object, where neither could really hurt the other. In that case, Hater was the unstoppable force and Wander the immovable object.

And so, Commander Peepers went to accept one thought- that this would never change.

But then things did change.

It had taken a little less than a week, four or five days perhaps, for the commander to realize that the zbornak and the wanderer were not coming around anymore. On every planet they visited(AKA conquered), not even the most extensive searches could bring up a trace of them. Many of the soldiers had realized around that time too, and had begun to form various theories behind what had happened to the pair. Some had thought Lord Hater had finally destroyed them, others believed that they were just on vacation. Once, Peepers heard a watchdog rattle on about the absurd idea that the wanderers could have been time travelers and were going on adventures across the galaxy in a yellow porta-potty. Ha! How ridiculous!

Lord Hater didn't seem to notice the disappearance; then again, Lord Hater was good at concealing his emotions when he _really_ wanted to. Perhaps the skeleton had completely forgotten the annoying little pest, or perhaps he was faking it. If he did notice, Hater could be confused, frustrated, or perhaps just dispassionate about this change of pace. Either way, Peepers wasn't planning on confronting the skeleton man about his thoughts just yet; in fact, Peepers thought it was entirely possible Wander and Sylvia were concocting a ruse to lead Hater into a false sense of security before continuing their tirade.

About three weeks had come and gone after Peepers' first realization, and no one on the skullship had seen neither hide or hair of the two. Plans to conquer the galaxy were still inching slowly even with Wander no longer acting as a distraction. Lord Hater spent most of his time now in his room playing video games or napping, and wouldn't come out even if Peepers was on his knees begging him to. And so, despite the huge effort on Peepers' part, the Lord Hater empire continued its steady decline and had dwindled to merely 9 planets (a very small number compared to other villains) when Commander Peepers received the surprising report from his underlings on their secret intergalactic storage facility.

As it turned out, the soldiers onboard had caught at least half of the daring duo around the time they disappeared and had failed to produce a report until many days afterwards. After thoroughly reprimanding the soldiers responsible for filing the report, Peepers dug around and discovered that it was Sylvia who had been captured.

Strong, intimidating, clever Sylvia had been captured. If anything, Peepers would've thought Wander was the one to be captured-he was the less powerful and less sharp-witted of the two, after all. That was another curious thing, Wander; there wasn't a report detailing his capture. The only reports Peepers got was on Sylvia and on some relatively unknown criminal named Ryder. It seemed the two were caught together while trying to steal from the storage facility, and were only caught after setting off the treasure room alarms. Peepers couldn't fathom how they even found the place or how they got as far as they did before they were collared(though the commander made a mental note to convince Lord Hater to move the storage facility).

However, the commander knew one thing was certain: he needed to talk to her. It could be the last opportunity to talk to Sylvia, since she was either going to end up escaping or being destroyed by his boss when Hater finds out. Besides, questioning the zbornak could close a few holes in the story Peepers was trying to piece together and could even lead him to Wander!

That was what led to Peepers spending his next weekend off taking a shuttle to the storage facility. Bringing Sylvia to the ship would've led to Lord Hater finding out about her capture and that would mean no interview. So Peepers had to be discreet when he left, making sure to leave when Lord Hater wasn't looking and bribing the shuttle driver with a crisp 100 to not ask or tell where the commander was going.

So now here the commander was, being led through the storage facility by one of the facility's leading officers to the holding cells.

"You know, it certainly is a surprise to see you here Commander. Not a lot happens here, as you probably know. Certainly a perk to this place being mostly a myth. In fact, this is the first time in 3 years that we caught someone trying to break in here! Pretty exciting for some of the privates! " The commander automatically nodding, not caring about the officer's attempt at a conversation.

"Any information you can give me on the zbornak? Behavior, injuries?"

"Not particularly sir. The first few days she was pretty violent, even sent a couple of our guards to the sick bay. Eventually, she stopped attacking the guards and just went completely silent. Guards say that she isn't eating or sleeping often, though that could be attributed to her anatomy."

Peepers once again nodded, looking around and finding the hallway growing smaller and smaller as they approached closer to the holding cells.

"And any injuries?"

"Not any major ones as far as we can see, and most of our medics don't want to risk being near her. After all, she does have a reputation in the army. Though…you probably are aware of that, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I understand what your saying, Sylvia is a force to be reckoned with, which is why I want to talk to her." As Peepers said that, Officer Clark finally stopped in front of a set of reinforced steel doors, moving next to the doorway with his hands behind his back.

"This is the room we have her in-it took a lot of sedatives to get her in, though I believe their out of her system by now. In case anything happens, just press the emergency button under your seat on the table."

"Thank you, but I don't think that'll be necessary." Peepers told Officer Clark, patting the blaster on his belt. "I can certainly handle myself if the time comes."

The officer nodded, his eye still filled with slight hesitancy. "Alright sir, good luck in there."

* * *

The door was completely silent as it opened swiftly and easily. The hinges were most likely oiled quite recently.

The only thing that gave Peepers away was in shutting the door behind him, which caused a metal clang to echo through the otherwise silent room. The zbornak sitting at the table only glanced at the watchdog for a moment before looking back down at her hands again, her grimace only growing.

"Hello Sylvia…"

No response.

Commander Peepers didn't let that unnerve him; instead, he pulled up the chair across from Sylvia at the sterile, silver metal table in the middle of the room. He took a few seconds to get settled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So, no comment?" Peepers began, scrutinizing the zbornak. "I suppose I should expect that from you given the circumstances. Now, I have some questions for you that would help me a lot if you just cooperated."

"You're an idiot if you think I'll tell you anything pipsqueak." Sylvia stated pointedly, looking up at the commander through her messy hair. Through the mane of hair covering her forehead, Peepers saw the red rings around her eyes. She had obviously been crying quite a bit; over what Peepers couldn't be certain.

"Just listen, and if you want to say something…say something." Sylvia furrowed her brows as she glared at him, but chose not to say anything. The shackles around her wrists clinked as she pulled her hands closer to her, stopping only because the chains attached to the table weren't long enough. Clearing his throat, Peepers spoke, "So, can you tell me everything you remember involving your initial capture on this facility? Any specific details that stand out in your memory?"

"Don't you have video recordings of that?"

"They show me what happened, but not the circumstances. What made you do something so risky?"

"…"

"I suppose it has something to do with that Ryder fellow, huh? Is he an ex-partner? An old flame you decided to hook up with again?" Commander Peepers tapped his fingers rhythmatically on the table, his eye gazing upon the zbornak's hands, which had angry red scars and various levels of bruises wrapped around them. "…Or is he just a random stranger, someone who somehow convinced you to join him on a raid with promises of wealth and fame with the condition you ditch your little buddy at who knows where so you can-"

"Stop…Stop saying that." Peepers stopped talking as soon as Sylvia opened her mouth. She blew her hair out of her eyes, allowing Peepers to see her face clearly as she looked him straight in his eye. "I don't know where Wander is, but I didn't ditch him. At least not on purpose. I got caught up in the excitement and wasn't paying attention: the last I saw of him was when me and that flarpnarbler Ryder used the key to enter this place."

"Wait…you had a KEY?! No one has a key but Lord Hater and an elite group of watchdogs! Where'd you-I-"

Sylvia smirked briefly at the now flustered appearance of the watchdog, letting him continue his mostly mumbled rant for a few more seconds before interrupting: "Ryder stole the key off of your ship. I'm surprised you don't remember commander, unless you have some sort of memory loss from Lord Hater's temper tantrum."

"Well, it must have been my day off when the key was stolen."

"Watchdogs get free time?"

Commander Peepers rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Of course the soldiers get free time: this our job, not our very life's purpose. Most of the watchdogs stay in the ship, but a couple, like me, spend time on the planets we've either conquered or have remained neutral territory. Some watchdogs are known to leave the army and settle down to start-wait…" The watchdog's eye shrunk in realization, blinking a couple of times in shock. "I…DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"

Peepers jumped from his chair onto the table, full of anger that Sylvia had made him lose track of the interview. "You know what, I'll just cut to the chase! Tell me zbornak- do you have any clue where Wander could be right now?"

Sylvia moved her head back as Peepers jabbed his finger at her, giving him a deadpan expression.

"If I did, don't you think I'd be out of here by now, looking for him? Even if I did have a clue, I wouldn't tell you! You'd just go off and tell Lord Hater and try to get Wander captured!

Plus, I can't even escape if I wanted to! This place is locked up tighter than any jail I've been in. So, unless you have anything else to ask-"

Peepers hopped off the table and back onto his seat as Sylvia said this, remembering that standing on the table pointing at his interrogatee wasn't the way to go about this. After all, someone was watching this through one of the ship's many cameras. "Actually, yes, I do. You may not be able to provide me with Wander's location, and you are unwilling to say exactly what happened, a possibility that I anticipated. But, you can still provide me insight on Wander's character and what other, unknown actions you took against the Hater Empire. We aren't leaving until I get at least part of what I want."

The commander reached for the notepad and pen attached to his belt, ignoring the groan emitted from the zbornak as he flipped through the pages and titled one page _Interrogation 4 on Secret Storage Facility: Sylvia (Last Name Unknown)._

"Now, let's begin again…question 1…"

* * *

Genesis wiped the ship's controls with her blue wash cloth, careful not to activate anything. She hadn't really used it in weeks, and a layer of dust and grease had developed on the buttons and the board itself. It was disgusting!

She gave the controls one last spritz of lemon-scented cleaning spray before wiping it dry once more. The board gleamed with cleanliness, which was enough for the conqueror as she threw the cleaning supplies across the room and grinned at her handiwork.

"Nice job D! Now that that's done, let's see where Wander is right now!" With a few button presses, the screen pulled up the video camera connected to Bot 22. The probe was clearly hiding in a cramped, shady area, with what seemed to be luggage around it. There was a sliver of light in the probe's vision, through which Genesis saw Wander, who was sitting on a train seat playing his banjo.

"Good, he made it…" Genesis said, feeling relief that he actually used the train ticket she bought for him just last night. She had had feared that Wander would try to make the entire journey in an Orbble bubble and end up captured or worse by trying to help somebody. It was good to know that she wouldn't have to pay a ransom or break into a prison to get the nomad back.

If Wander continued on the train, he'd reach the end of the galaxy in 2 days. This meant that there would be less time Genesis would have to wait to start destroying planets again without raising Wander's alarm bells. Though, that second thought didn't matter much compared to Wander's safety…

"Ugh, not again. I'm feeling warm and bubbly and it isn't from dominating…" Genesis furrowed her brows, trying to crush that feeling of a childlike crush back to where it came from. "I really need to snap out of this! I won't get attached to this furry spoon!"

Genesis slammed her hand against the control panel, still frustrated when the door to the bridge suddenly opened.

 _"Your drink ma'am."_ Without looking, Genesis took the chocolate shake from her servant drone and took a large gulp. She continued to check other important issues with the ship as the drone picked up the cleaning bottle and washcloth she had thrown. _"Is there anything else I can do for you ma'am?"_

Her first thought was to say 'No, now leave me be.' But when she opened her mouth, the words, "Get me the book _Warriors and their Legends of the Past_ that's in my room."

 _"Affirmative, ma'am."_ The drone zoomed off, and returned in under 2 minutes. As soon as it handed her the book, Genesis nodded, dismissing the robot. Once the robot left the room, Genesis sort of fell into her chair, putting her shake onto the armrest.

"Heh…man, I haven't read this book in a while. Must have read it hundreds of times;even now I can remember first getting it. This should put me in the dominating mode!" Genesis's gloved hands stroked the worn cover of the book tenderly as she spoke. Moving her hands aside, her gaze set upon the azure blue hardback, hand-painted with a hissing King cobra snake on the front. The book opened easily with the flick of Genesis's thumb. In her hands, the pages felt thin and delicate like old papers are, and tinted slightly yellow from age.

As the girl looked upon the first page, a fleeting memory flashed across Genesis's eyes…

* * *

 _6 year old Genesis sat quietly in the corner of the room, a small flashlight lighting her book pages. Around her, her play mates napped peacefully with blankets wrapped tightly around them. But Genesis had never quite been like her play mates; she had always been more mature and somewhat intelligent than others her age. The book she was reading was one she borrowed from one of the older kids; it was full of short stories by an author named something-Danvis._

 _She was in the middle of a story about a farmer and a goat when the sound of shuffling feet broke her from her trance. Looking up, Genesis saw a young chinchilla-like boy a few feet in front of her, sitting on his knees. She could see from her spot that he didn't have a blanket._

 _The boy and Genesis stared at each other for a few seconds; then, the boy pointed at her blanket before pointing at himself and Genesis. Understanding what the boy meant, Genesis smiled and nodded, moving over to make room under her purple blanket. Smiling gratefully, the chinchilla child quietly scooted over next to Genesis and pulled his part of the covering over himself._

 _Genesis resumed reading her book, allowing the boy to use her shoulder as a pillow._

* * *

"AGH! Stop making me remember things brain!" Genesis yelled to herself, pounding herself in her head as she did so. The faint feelings of warmth and innocence the memory brought soon dissipated from her mind and the memory was quickly stored in the dark recesses of her mind, back with the rest of her childhood.

"Ugh, nostalgia is such a flarpnarbler…" she murmured, shaking her head. "Now, let's get down to business…"

She flipped through the pages, finally landing on page 78- The Thirty-Three Tombs of Infinity. The page went on describing the Tombs: how they were built thousands of years ago by ambitious conquerors and empire builders known as Star Warriors, how the only three tombs gave no indication of why they were built, that no one could get into the indestructible, heavily locked tombs, and all the theories of what was in them(such as jewels, weapons, ancient knowledge, etc). Once she reached the third to last passage, she stopped merely skimming and began reading aloud:

"The Unbreakable Lock…

Of the three tombs uncovered so far, none of them have been opened to this day. Despite numerous attempts by archaeologists and adventurers alike, none have been able to even make a dent in the Wolffersonite crypts. As far as everyone is concerned, the tombs cannot be opened by any means. So, the contents of the tombs remain a mystery.

The only way the tombs seem to be able to be opened is through breaking the locking mechanism. This lock, known as the Adamantine Clamp, is very complex and has only been used properly by the Star Warriors, who invented the Adamantine Clamp. From deciphering ancient Star Warrior records, historians can piece together that the locks were used by only the wealthiest and most elite of the families."

Genesis skipped the next part, finding it excruciatingly boring, saying "Yadda yadda yadda" instead. Then, she continued onto the next part.

"In order to break the Adamantine Clamp, you must take one of the members of the family that built the tomb and bring them to the circular base of the building. There, a person that the Star Warrior trusts would take a dagger, made out of the very material the building is made of, and use it to…"

She read the last part silently, a sharp intake of breath being her only sound. A leer took hold of her face as she slammed the book shut, her confidence growing tenfold.

"Oh man, I feel so much better now! Forget silly school girl crushes; oh, I can't wait to see Wander's blood spill and for the tomb's knowledge and weaponry to finally be mine!"

The conqueress squealed as she stood up, almost knocking over her drink. As soon as she was done being exuberant, she looked back at the control panel and found very interesting readings. She took a closer look, making the map larger on the screen.

"Huh, looks like one of Lord Hater's storage facilities is nearby-only a couple of miles away.

…I guess it wouldn't hurt to go around there and beat up some of his watch dogs. Could be a real blast!"

Giggling evilly, the green girl set a course for the same place two of Wander's 'friends' currently are.

* * *

Commander Peepers moved out of the way as the watchdog soldiers came through the hall, watching as Sylvia was dragged out by a dozen of them. He rubbed his sore, almost burning eye, the wave of weariness overcoming him.

He sighed, sliding down against the wall as soon as he was sure no one else was around. "6 straight hours of interrogation…all I have to show for it is the knowledge of a bunch of stupid adventures those two do-gooders had. She doesn't even know where Wander is…

Ugh, why didn't I just let Hater deal with her? I was stupid to come here; she's right, even if she does know something, she'll just lie about it. Maybe I'll just get a coffee and let some other watchdog figure it out…at least Hater won't get mad at me for not telling him."

 _ **BOOOM!**_

The commander found himself propelled into the air, with gravity being null for what seemed like an eternity. After a few moments, he faceplanted into the ground and his helmet was thrown off his head.

The immediate pain of his face/eye soon subsided, but left Peepers with an aching feeling. Unfortunately, that was the least of his problems when he heard the Meltdown Alarm started to sound throughout the entire base and the screams of the watchdogs that followed.

"Uh, hi everyone, this is control center," The watchdog on the intercom nervously said, his voice crackling. "it seems as though someone has started firing missiles at us and one of them damaged the power core, so it seems we'll be…well, exploded, soon…have a good day!"

As the intercom turned off, Peepers snapped out of shocked stupor and went into survival mode. Carefully, the commander pulled himself to his feet, using the nearby wall for support. Once he felt steadied he took a couple of deep breaths, determined to stay calm even as the ship tremored and the alarm continued sounding.

Without hesitation, Peepers came to one conclusion: "I need to find the escape pods, now." The commander grabbed his helmet, breaking into a sprint as he put it back on. He speedily navigated through the wave of scrambling watchdogs, being careful that he wasn't being pulled off course.

Luckily, Commander Peepers had looked over the blueprints of the facility numerous times, per the request(or angry command) of Lord Hater to make it bigger, so he knew where to find the escape pods. From where Peepers was, it would be straight, left, right, left, left, straight, and there they would be, simple.

Unfortunately, it was not-so. Just as Peepers was taking the 2nd left, he came face to face with 5, terrifying circle shaped robots that were each 10 times his size. The one-eyed commander had never seen the likes of these robots from any other villain, but he could tell that they belonged to one: they were big, made of pure black material, and each had one,yellow 'eye' staring at the watchdog menacingly.

As soon Peepers made eye contact with one of the robots, he screeched and ripped his blaster from its holster, firing two shots at the middle robot. The shot proved ineffective in hurting the robot, with both blasts ricocheting off the metal and into one of the pillars. Just as he went to shot a third, a wave of molten lava was shot at his hand; the commander barely had time to pull his hand back as the lava covered his blaster and turned it into a liquid.

All five robots began to move in sync, inching towards the commander in what seemed to be slow motion.

"HEY! HUNKS OF SCRAP METAL; TAKE THIS!" The robots paused, looking up just in time to see a pillar fall on top of them. Peepers was blown a couple of feet back from the force of the pillar falling, landing on his back. Before he could react, a rough, blue tale wrapped around his torso, trapping his arms under the layers of flesh.

"Hey, pipsqeak, where's the escape pods? I don't know about you but I'm not ready to die just yet!" Being lifted to the zbornak's eye level, Peepers found himself looking into the eyes of his (former) prisoner. He hesitated, but realized that if he didn't tell her, they would definitely get destroyed.

"Turn at the next left and go straight. That's where they should be!"

"Great; now hang on tight!" Sylvia flicked Peepers into her saddle, then bolted down the hallway, jumping over the rubble as she did. Peepers gripped the reins so hard that his knuckles turned white, trying to hold back a scream as Sylvia raced down the hallway and past multiple robots.

One thing was certain to Peepers now: if this didn't kill him, Hater would kill the watchdog himself.

* * *

Genesis watched in sadistic glee as Hater's storage station continued to crumble apart from the inside out. From the bots' cameras, she could see all the glorious chaos they were causing. Of course, she could also see the escape pods and ships flowing from it, but she didn't really care about that.

"Yes, run you peons! Run and tell Lord Loser what I've done!" The conqueress declared, a Cheshire-like smile on her face.

For now, Genesis was dead; Lord Dominator was standing in her ashes.

* * *

 **And that was chapter 4! I've been working on this one for a couple of days! This is my longest chapter yet; tell me what you think in the review box. Remember, constructive criticism is welcome!**

 **Next up: The Enemy**

 **Key Info.:**

 **\- Pretty much the same 'The Greater Hater', with some big differences**

 **\- Lord Dominator rises…**

 **\- Depressed Sylvia(in small amounts)**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter-have a good day!**


	5. The Enemy

**Chapter Synopsis: A chance encounter has Peepers, Sylvia, and Lord Hater at the mercy of Lord Dominator, and she's planning to enjoy toying with her newest victims.**

 **Characters featured:**

 **\- Genesis (Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Sylvia**

 **\- Commander Peepers**

 **\- Lord Hater**

 **\- Wander (minor)**

* * *

It had been a little more than a week since Wander had left for the Fisheye Nebula. The first thing Genesis had done after destroying Hater's storage facility was give her ship a drastic makeover; she couldn't have her ship recognized, could she?

That part wasn't especially hard; her ship was made out of hardened Volcanium X, which could still be molded with a bit of tweaking to its power center. Within a few hours, her ship had been transformed into a round, almost disc-like shape with a huge cluster of spikes where the head was. Not too much change and just as scary as before.

Since then, Genesis had been in full domination mode. She sent her probes and her army to hard work, destroying planets left and right. She had even captured a couple of planets instead of destroying them, which shocked both herself and her army. Destroying all her planets instead of conquering them was her Modus Operandi in every single galaxy. Of course, this galaxy wasn't like all those other galaxies- it had exactly what Lord D. wanted.

And she could always destroy the planets she conquered in the end. But if she didn't…well, she could always leave them behind for another villain to conquer one day.

She would love to see the look on their face when they looked upon the destruction Lord Dominator had caused.

* * *

It was late morning in the star system Dominator's ship was currently in. Lord Dominator was in the bridge of her ship, whooping loudly as she pumped her hands in the air. She was currently in full lava armor, her helmet covering her face. The reason for the conqueress's excitement was displayed on the TV; she was finally at the top of the Galactic Villain Leaderboard.

"YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Dominator cheered, her voice currently disguised by the suit. " NOW NO ONE CAN DISPUTE THE POWER OF SOMEONE WHO'S DESTROYED 59 PLANETS!

DOMINATOR'S GREATER, BEST VILLAIN! DOMINATOR'S GREATER, BEST VILLAIN! WOO!"

She began dancing around the bridge, but froze when she heard her phone's jarringly loud in the silent room ringtone. Swiftly, Dominator shifted out of her lava armor, willing the material to move off of her body and back into her hands as she always did. Under the suit, the green girl wore a pitch black, skin-tight jumpsuit with short sleeves and embroidered with a dark red heart on the chest, paired with a simple pair of red sneakers, her yellow gloves, and a black helmet with yellow, spiky horns.

The villainess knew before even grabbing her phone and looking at the screen that it was Wander; he was the only contact she had in her phone beside her brother(who was blocked) and…well, that was it.

Dominator made a sharp intake of breath as that was confirmed, almost dropping her phone. "Oh! It's Wander! Okay okay, just act cool D, he doesn't know a thing!

Remember- be Genesis."

With that, Dominator put on her cool, calm, collected pretense, ignoring the twinge of nervousness bubbling inside her and the question 'what would happen if Wander was coming back early?' going through her mind. She pressed the 'answer' button, putting the phone on speaker.

"Heeeyyy Wander!"

"Hey Gen!" Wander replied, his voice equally peppy. However, something about it seemed…off. "It's great to be hearin' from you again! I just wanted to check up on ya! So how're ya doin'?"

"Meh, pretty bored to be honest. Nothing to do but play video games and watch TV. But overall, feeling pretty good. So, any closer to making that treaty yet?"

Wander hesitated in that answer, letting the line go silent.

"Helloo?"

"Yeah…it's…not goin' so well. We're having trouble finding neutral territory to host the summit and neither group is too keen on the idea of sending their leader pretty much unguarded to meet the enemy. But I have faith that with a little more time, I'll be able to do it!"

Dominator grinned a bit at Wander's determination- it was one of the things she respected about him. "That's good. So where are you staying right now? Hopefully not in some army camp, right?"

On the other end, Wander chuckled lightly, then said, "Nah, don't worry. Jeff and I are staying on his ship; it's comfy, but not quite like your ship!"

"Aww, thanks. Listen, just call me when you're done and I'll make sure to buy you a ticket!"

"No need to do that, Jeff has that handled, but I'll make sure to call you when I'm done."

Dominator unconsciously nodded at this: "Okay, bye Wander!"

"Bye Gen, love you!"

 _*click*_

Giggling, the green skinned girl put her phone back on the end of the control panel. She could never understand why every conversation would end in Wander saying in some shape or form that he loved her. Not even her brother was as affectionate as Wander was to her. It was…interesting, especially given his species' outlook on intimate relationships, but Dominator wasn't exactly bothered by it.

"Alright, now that that's done, time to DOMINATE! BOT 13!"

In an instant, the probe she called entered the room. Bot 13 was her best probe, always managing to find the planets with the most Volcanium X, so Dominator knew it would have something good for her. She turned completely around to face the robot, leaning against the control panel and crossing her arms as she did so.

"Bot 13, tell me which planet within a 10 mile radius has the most Volcanium X and how much."

Beeping, the bot materialized a blue hologram from its 'eye' of a large planet that had a landscape split in half; one half being rocky and full of craters and the other smooth and with dark stripes lining it. Then, a medium sized, dark, oval shape formed in the hologram, indicating the presence of Volcanium X.

"Scouted: Blara-Shara Prime. Amount of Volcanium X: 37%. Distance from current location: 6.8 miles. Recommendation: Dominate."

"Hm, Blara-Shara…" Dominator said thoughtfully, tapping her chin as she looked at the wall nearby. "Isn't that the planet where all the people have rhyming names, like Man-Dan or something? Ugh, those people are so stuck-up, I'll be more than happy to destroy their stupid planet."

The green girl smirked, forming a sort of gun with three of her fingers and pointing her hand at Bot 13. She winked at the Bot: "Good job Bot 13. Keep up the great work and I might even upgrade you!" She then clicked her tongue approvingly, shooting her pretend gun at the Bot.

The Bot didn't say anything in response, only saluted before zipping out of the room.

Lord Dominator swerved around to face the console, her lava suit slowly forming around her.

"Look out Blara-Shara Prime, here comes-" The helmet came down over her face, completing the suit. "DOMINATOR!"

* * *

Things were going as usual for the people of Blara-Shara Prime. People were at work, the children were in school; nothing at all could seem to tear the people from their routine.

So of course, that was when Lord Hater's Skullship landed smack dab in the middle of the planet's capital city Lipton-Shipton.

The people screamed and cried, either streaming out of the buildings as far as they could from the watchdog soldiers matching down the streets or locking themselves inside, watching covertly at what was happening.

At the Queen's palace, the heavily armed guards waged war with the invaders with their own weaponry. Despite being much smaller than the Blara-Shara soldiers, the watchdogs fought back with the same, if not more, resolve.

The only one missing from this fight was Lord Hater himself and his second(or third, of you took Hater's pet Captain Tim into consideration) in command Commander Peepers. Unfortunately for Commander Peepers, he was stuck in the outskirts of the battle, trying to coax his stubborn boss to move from his spot.

"Please sir, just give some effort to conquering this planet!" Peepers pleaded, pacing in front of his boss. "Blara-Shara Prime is one of the galaxy's main hubs of trade, and conquering it could really help us!"

"But I don't wanna Peepers!" Hater whined, unmoving from his criss-cross position on the ground. The overlord was still grumpy over being awoken so early after a night spent playing video games. It infuriated Peepers to no end, but yelling at his boss wouldn't get him anywhere except the burn unit of the ship.

Trying to keep his voice as level as possible, Peepers continued to plead his case: "Sir, I promise you, if you give just a little effort, I'll let you go straight back to your room and do whatever you want once we've taken over the I'll even get one of the watchdogs to get you that video game you've had your eye on."

Lord Hater looked at the commander contemplatingly, still pouting as he was thinking over it. Finally, he stood up, albeit with a loud groan.

"Ugh, fiiinnne!" Lord Hater started to make his way towards the palace, mumbling, "Lets just get this over with." Ecstastically, his commander followed closely behind, his blaster clutched in his hand and his eye curved into a smile of-sorts.

As soon as Lord Hater got within 20 feet of the palace, 10 guards charged at him yelling war cries. All were immediately zapped with a thousand bolts of green electricity, which left them (luckily) unconscious on the ground. Many guards came after that, but ended up with the same fate. And all this without Lord Hater making a sweat. This was definitely one of the instances Commander Peepers felt great pride in being apart of the Lord Hater Empire.

At the entrance of the palace, Lord Hater stepped over the unconscious forms of the soldiers and kicked the iron doors in with one fell swoop. The throne room they led to was gigantic, extravagant, and ornate, which could be expected for a palace. One half of the room, as in that _whole side of the room_ and _Everything in that side of the room,_ was gold-themed while the other side of the room was silver-themed.

At the end of the ornate throne room, Lady Cady had risen from her throne, clearly in a panic. She, like many of the other natives of the planet, was a cat-like being that had a pair of large monarch butterfly wings that, besides being pretty, could be used to fly long distances. Her fur was cream colored and cut short and neat, and her eyes were a sage green; the only clothing she wore was a loose, orange and black strapless dress.

As Lady Cady rose from her throne chair, she let out a soft gasp, her hands going up to cover her face in shock. Lord Hater and Commander Peepers made their way towards the queen, Lord Hater continuing to grimace as he began his speech:

"Queen Cady, your planet will fall this day. The people of this dumb planet will talk about this day for centuries, the day that I, Lord Hater, conquered your planet!"

Lady Cady stumbled back as Lord Hater got increasingly close, but ended up trapped against the back wall. Lord Hater grabbed the queen by her arms, lifting her up and slamming her against the wall.

The two stared into each other's eyes, Lady Cady's eyes reflecting fear and shock and Lord Hater's eyes full of malice and hate that practically stabbed daggers into the other's soul.

Hesitantly, the lady opened her mouth, needing to say something important.

"…It's actually _Lady_ Cady." The lady explained with a surprising amount of confidence. "The people of this planet prefer to be called by their rhythmic names, it's considered rude if you don't. Just…remember that for next time please."

Lady Cady's fear and shock seemed to just disappear from her features, giving way to a look of discomfort from being held so tightly by her arms.

"Hey, could you…let me down now? My arms are starting to get numb and plus I have a meeting soon with my army's commander about what to spend the army's budget on."

With a loud scream, Lord Hater threw the queen across the room with all his force. Lady Cady's wings frantically fluttered as she spun in the air, until finally stabilizing herself. Shaking her head, the queen collected her wits as Lord Hater walked up to her and once again grabbed her, this time by her leg, and pulled her to eye-level. He was furious now.

"HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME?! I'M LORD HATER, THE GREATEST IN ALL OF THE GALA-"

"34th actually."

That comment made Hater stop in his tracks. His look of fury became one of bewilderment, his grip on her leg loosening enough for the queen to get free.

"I…wh-what?"

"Come on, don't tell me you don't know! Everyone who's anyone knows the patterns of all the major super villains, including how you went from the best villain to a merely mediocre one!"

Commander Peepers went to his dazed boss's side, worried on how the overlord was handling it. Right now, the skeleton didn't warrant the commander's intervention.

Again, Lord Hater asked, "W-What do you mean?"

Lady Cady shook her head, actually having the gall to be annoyed at him. "You know what? I'm done explaining." She turned her head towards a nearby hallway, raising her voice. "Sylvia-Olivia, please tell me you found my husband!"

Commander Peepers' eye widened in shock at that name. She couldn't possibly mean-…could she?

"I DID!" A few seconds later, the commander's fears were proven as the zbornak entered the throne room. "And it's just Sylvia-I don't want you to call me Sylvia-Olivia."

The commander couldn't believe he was seeing her again. It had been a week since the two had escaped from the storage facility and had crash landed on a deserted planet nearby. They vowed to each other never to speak of what happened again before Sylvia took off in an orbble bubble(Peepers had found some orbble juice in one of the emergency compartments; it had just enough to get to the nearest inhabited planet) and Peepers called a shuttle using his back-up communicator. He had managed to sneak back onto the ship with Lord Hater being none the wiser of what his second-in-command had been doing during his day off.

The Sylvia that was here now was a drastic change from the uneasy, melancholy person Commander Peepers saw then. Now, she seemed confident, almost cocky, with an aura of strength emitting from her-just as she usually was. Duke Luke sat in her saddle, the place where Wander was usually found; it seemed as though Sylvia was unsuccessful in finding her little buddy.

"SYLVIA?!" Hater's rage returned with full force at the sight of one of his most hated enemies. His hand crackled with electricity as he yelled at her, "GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE I DESTROY YOU!"

Sylvia rolled her eyes and continued to smirk, unfazed by the threat. "Yeah, that's the plan Bonehead. Later!" With that the zbornak ran and jumped out a nearby open window that was just a few feet from the ground, with Lady Cady following closely behind.

As soon as Lady Cady flittered out, Peepers knew what was going to happen and gripped onto his overlord's cloak as Hater gave chase. He clung to dear life as Hater raced after the zbornak, screaming wildly as he attempted to hit her with his lightning bolts.

"PLEASE SIR! JUST IGNORE HER! WE CAN JUST LET THE WATCHDOGS CATCH THEM LATER!" Hater didn't respond, which caused Peepers to grow even more frustrated. The skeleton man plowed through watchdogs, citizens, and Blara-Shara soldiers alike, not paying any attention to them. That's when Peepers finally snapped, yelling out the next statement with full force:

"PLEASE SIR, YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS THE REASON YOU'RE NO LONGER A REAL VILLAIN!

Now **that** got a reaction out of his boss; he screeched to a stop, which flung Peepers onto the ground in front of Hater. Sylvia and the king and queen of Blara-Shara Prime also stopped to watch the scene unfold, having heard what Peepers said. Heck, even a couple of watchdogs and Blara-Shara guards stopped fighting and 'oooooh'ed at what Peepers just said.

As soon as Peepers looked up, he saw Lord Hater giving him the scariest, angriest scowl he could. Before today, that look would have terrified him. But after all that's happened with Wander and Sylvia, Peepers had lost most of his fear of the overlords; besides, he didn't have time for silly things like fear right now. They had a planet to conquer!

"I'm sorry sir, but it. Is. The. TRUTH!" Peepers huffed, standing back up with his fists clenched and his eye dead set on Hater. "Every since we met Sylvia and Wander, you've done nothing but obsess over trying to capture them! Sure, I do agree that they're an obstacle, but not one that requires you to spend so much of our reserves on!

You've become so obsessed that you've lost any really holding you have as a villain in the galaxy, and allowed other villains to rise up and take control of the territory you lost! In fact, I'm surprised that this planet hasn't already been conquered by another, more powerful villain!"

Lord Hater narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, but didn't say anything. Peepers took this as a sign that he was safe to continue his speech. "Grop, Queen Cady-"

 _"Lady Cady!"_ The queen herself corrected, yelling it so the watchdog can hear her.

"-Lady Cady is right, you're not even in the top ten greatest- you're just the 34th! And that's why we need to get back in the game and conquer as many planets as quickly as possible!"

"He's right you know!" Sylvia yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. This didn't help calm Hater- if anything, it made him even more irritated.

"STAY OUTTA THIS!" Green lightning roared around the overlords as he screamed this, and proceeded to continue chasing Sylvia. This resulted in Peepers being flung into a nearby mud puddle as his boss and Sylvia ran around in one, large circle around a watchtower, with the king and queen watching this as they sat on top of the watchtower itself.

Peepers tried to stand up out of the mud puddle, only to slip and fall on his back again. He let out a loud sigh, letting his arms fall into the mud with a loud plop. He was too exhausted-both physically and emotionally-to deal with this right now.

"I swear, everything around me is like a cartoon. A stupid, silly cartoon that I'm trapped in…"

* * *

Abruptly, a large shadow began to cover the entire planet, as an even larger warship descended towards Blara-Shara Prime. Sitting straight up, Commander Peepers stared the huge ship in pure awe, his eye shrinking to a pinpoint. In all his years, he had never seen a ship as gigantic and, quite honestly, frightening.

As the shadow covered more and more of the planet, all activities, including fighting,seized completely(some fighters stopped midpunch or even in the air!). Sylvia froze as well when she saw the ship looming in the sky; the only one who didn't stop was Lord Hater, who continued to run in a circle screaming.

After a few times of running in a circle, Lord Hater ran straight into Sylvia, which caused him to be flung back a couple of feet. He immediately got back on his feet, hands clenched.

"HEY WATCH IT YOU-" Hater stopped mid-sentence when he finally saw the warship, his shoulder slacking and his mouth agape.

As soon as the ship seemed to cover the entire planet in its shadow, the underbelly of the ship opened, revealing a huge drill. Most of the crowd, like Lady Cady and Duke Luke, were able to come to their senses and decided to run for their lives. This left Sylvia, Commander Peepers, Lord Hater, and a few other watchdogs standing almost paralyzed as the drill came down upon the planet.

In an instant, the ground exploded open, revealing the raw core of the planet. Everything and everyone were flung into the sky, gravity seemingly pausing for a moment as they all reached the highest height.

It was at this point that the ship let out a bright red light that covered only Sylvia, Hater, and Peepers; they were gone before anyone could even blink.

* * *

Sylvia yelped as she hit the cold, hard ground of a jail cell, something she recognized. No…it wasn't cold, it was…actually pretty warm. The zbornak stood back up, cracking her back as she did so, and then started to look around.

"Ugh…" Lord Hater groaned as he stood back up, dumbfounded that he had somehow been teleported to a totally unfamiliar environment. "What-What happened?"

Peepers stood up, still glaring at the overlord.

"Gee sir, I don't know!" He started sarcastically, "Maybe EXACTLY what I said would happen?! Because of your growing incompetence, another villain decided to take over the planet we were already conquering and captured us to either torture us or worse!"

"Pfft, please! This guy isn't so tough! I bet that behind this ship, this guy is way lamer than he seems!"

"Or he's just as deadly or even deadlier as the ship seems to tell us." Sylvia added, simultaneously punching the wall to test its hardness; needless to say, it wouldn't crack easily. Lord Hater looked at her with a shocked look, having not realized that she had come with them. The zbornak expected the overlord to really flip out then, but was slightly disappointed to see him look away disinterested. It seemed as though Lord Hater was actually more angry at this guy than Sylvia.

"Sir, I think Sylvia is onto something-this guy seems to mean serious business! So for now, let's just focus on getting out of here!"

Hater nodded at this. "Of course; then I can find this guy and show him who's boss around these parts! Great idea Peepers!"

"Sir, that isn't what I-" Before Peepers could finish, the crackle of electricity sounded from Lord Hater's hands as he formed a green ball of electricity with his hands and fired it at the wall. The wall Sylvia was standing next to.

"WHOA!" Sylvia jumped back to avoid the energy ball, the energy narrowly blowing past her and singing the edges of her mane.

Upon the electric orb's impact with the wall, it made a small explosion, which melted a wide hole in it. Lord Hater jumped through it and sprinted through the hallways,trailed closely by his commander.

"SIR NOOO!" Sylvia hopped through the hole and into the hallway, chuckling at Hater's antics. In some way, it reminded her of Wander before he…well, now wasn't the time to think about that. Hurriedly, Sylvia started to follow Peepers and Hater when she noticed the hole in the wall closing.

She paused for a moment, watching as the hole closed completely, leaving the wall looking good as new. The zbornak was in complete disbelief: "I…what the…you know what? I don't care." She continued to follow her two 'companions', sprinting even harder to catch up.

Enemies or not, they all needed to stick together if they wanted to get out of this.

* * *

Dominator cackled as she watched the three on the screen, slamming her hand against the arm of her chair repeatedly.

"Oh-ho-ho! This is too perfect! All the threats to my plan are together on MY ship! I can't believe I had the luck of running into them, especially since they've been so elusive lately. I think now's the perfect time to brush up on my hostess skills, and what better way than to show 'em around my lovely home?"

Pulling up the map of the ship, she used her finger to mold and shift the corridors.

"Let's see…close that door, open that door, lead bots from that corridor…" She mumbled, feeling the ship rumble under the feet. "and…there!" Dominator grinned, pulling her finger from the map and surveying her ship's modifications. "Perfect; that should lead them straight to the most **interesting** room in this place! **HAHAHAAA!"**

* * *

Sylvia had gained ground on the two evil-doers, now only a couple of feet behind Commander Peepers. She watched both of them turn a corner, and narrowly screeched around it as well.

She ran a couple more steps, but slowed down tremendously when she got far enough into the room she was in. There in front of her was a huge collection of weapons that was extensive for any villain to have. Thousands of blasters, bombs, flamethrowers, maces, machetes, swords, and other weapons that she couldn't even recognize, all themed black with red accents, were stacked and sorted on the wall, the ceiling itself seemingly being nonexistent. It was all practically-no, not practically, actually!-overwhelming.

"Whoa…who is this guy?" She asked herself, opting to stay near the opening of the armory.

A few feet away from the zbornak were Hater and Peepers. The former was putting on a grimance to hid his exasperation, while the latter was properly shocked and even impressed.

"Pfft, this guy isn't so cool." Hater mumbled as he crossed his arms and walked off in a random direction.

"Oh, this guy's the real deal sir…" Peepers said, his wide eye taking in the collection of weapons. "This is one serious arsenal…" The commander gasped as he rushed over to a panel of wall lined with laser-guns.

"LEVEL 5 MEGA LASERS?!"

"Pfft, yeah, whatever." Hater replied flatly, eyes closed.

"NOVA COMBUSTERS?! I DIDN'T EVEN THINK THOSE EXISTED!" Peepers shouted as he gazed at the panel of at least 15 glowing spiked bombs ready to detonate.

"Big deal… I could have _that_ , I just don't want to _."_ Hater murmured as he walked past Peepers, the monocular commander eyeballing his leader as he passed by. In doing so, Peepers caught his eye on one of the weapons on the ground: his heart practically stopped when he saw it looked _exactly_ like the machine that attacked the storage facility, only much, much larger.

"And…that thing…" The commander walked towards it, slightly hesitant to get near it. It appeared to be turned off, but it could be a trick. "I…I'm not exactly sure what this is or who made it but-"

Lord Hater finally snapped, screaming angrily, "AGHHHHHHH! ITS TOTALLY AWESOME, THAT'S WHAT IT IS!" With a few flashes of lightning emitting from the overlord, Lord Hater turned to Peepers in full fury, pulling the watchdog up and pointing his finger at him accusingly. "WHY DON'T **WE** HAVE AWESOME STUFF LIKE THIS?! THIS IS **YOUR FAULT,** ISN'T IT?!"

Peepers remained totally calm, closing his eye and sighing before he spoke, "We _could_ have had all this…" He pulled himself from his leader's grasp, scowling as it became his turn to reprimand Hater. "But _someone_ needed a hot tub, and an arcade, and an entire research team to develop new barbecue sauces for the food court!"

Lord Hater backed up from the commander as he got increasingly, uncomfortably close, his body language and face like that of a child who stole a toy or a piece of candy. He actually tripped on his cloak and fell on the ground, still being hounded by his second-in-command.

"A food court, which by the way, we built instead of an atom smasher, **WHICH THIS GUY ALSO HAS!"** Peepers screeched, now standing on the overlord's upper body and pointing at the atom smasher mentioned.

Hater's eyes darting around the room, trying to avoid Peepers' gaze. "Yeah, well…I SHOULD HAVE ALL THIS AND MORE!" Angry at being reprimanded, Hater stood up and threw Commander Peepers off of him, raising his arms in the air. "FOR I AM **LORD HATER** , THE GREATEST IN THE-"

"Thirty. Fourth. Greatest. Sir."

"… **GAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"** With a war cry, Hater pounced on the nearby robot, blasting it with surges of lightning and ripping it to shreds. Peepers shook his head, rubbing his closed eye.

"I swear, sometimes he's the biggest baby in the galaxy."

"Finally, something we can agree on." Sylvia said as she walked up next to him, smirking at the display in front of her. Peepers doesn't seemed too surprised by her sudden presence as he doesn't change his position or even look at the zbornak. "How long do you think he's going to go on like that?"

Peepers looked back up, eye half-lidded at Hater's tantrum. "5 minutes at the least, half an hour at the most; it depends on how much sleep he got last night."

"Heh, I can't believe I used to be afraid of Lord-Doofus! I mean, look at him now!"

"Unfortunately, that's what a lot of people think. If Hater just focused himself more, then he could've been undisputed king of the galaxy by now!" Peepers crossed his arms and rolled his eyes-err, eye. "But nooooo, he has to overreact at _every little thing_ and ruin my perfectly laid on plans!"

"Shouldn't you be used to that by now?" Sylvia asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, how long have you been with Hater? 3-4 years?"

"Oh, twelve actually- I had just reached adulthood when I joined." Peepers corrected, taking off his helmet and looking at it thoughtfully. "5 was spent as a regular soldier, 2 and a half was as one of the lower ranking commanders, and 1 year I spent under the guidance of my predecessor Commander Leia Ojo **¹**." Peepers put his helmet back on as he continued, thinking back fondly on his time being taught by Commander Ojo. "When she retired, I took her place; I've been at Hater's side since."

Suddenly, Peepers' eyes widened in realization. "Dang it, why did I SAY THAT?!"

Sylvia ignored Peepers last statement and the murmuring of frustration that followed. "That's a pretty interesting story…so wait, how old is Hater then?"

Peepers thought about this, racking his brain for the answer. Finally, he just shrugged. "I-I honestly don't know."

An explosion cut off their conversation, pulling their attention back to Hater. In the short time they were talking, Hater completely _destroyed_ the robot, reducing it to ripped apart metal and melted lava.

Hater stood in front of the decimated robot, smiling in evil triumph. "YEAH! NOT SO TOUGH NOW, IS HE?!" He then proceeded to do an awkward looking dance, shaking his booty in the air. Both Peepers and Sylvia outwardly cringe at this, Sylvia muttering "eugh…"

* * *

Lord Dominator watched this scene from her bridge, also quite disturbed by Lord Hater's dance.

"Eww! Stop that Hater, no one wants to watch **that!** " As the dance continued, Dominator groaned, her hands hovering over the panel. "Alright, this isn't fun anymore. Time to get down to real business."

Clicking one button, she activated her Dominator bot and put it in direct control mode, pulling the controller close to her chest. "Let's see if I can still pilot these things manually."

* * *

The broken Dominator-bot began to pulsate with energy, pulling itself from the ground and reforming. Hater took no notice to this and continued his dance while Peepers and Sylvia watched in awe and horror as the hulking machine finished recreating its body, falling to the ground with a rumble.

This sound finally caused Hater to stop dancing and turn around to see the robot. He immediately backed up from the robot as it scanned the three of them.

"GAH! Are you kidding me?!" Hater yelled, stomping his feet. "That's so cool!"

 **"Targets locked. Objective: Capture the ones known as Lord Hater, Commander Peepers, and Sylvia."**

"Is-is this guy _watching_ us?!" Peepers questioned while he looked around the room frantically, shocked that the machine could know their names.

"Who cares?!" Sylvia pulled her fists up, a cocky look on her face. "Time for that piece of junk to meet the Lady Haymaker and the Dutchess! RAAAAHHHHH!" The zbornak jumped into the air, punching the Dominator-bot with all her might with both her fists.

As soon as her fists met the metal surface, a loud, disgusting crack filled with the room; as that crack sounded,Sylvia's face contorted in pain. "OOOOWWWW!"

Sylvia fell back down to the floor, trying hard to avoid landing on her hands. Pulling herself up, she looked down at her dark, purple bruised hands-not good. "Ugh,what happened? I've punched through metal and brick walls before with no problem; how come this hurts so much?!"

Ignoring the question, the Dominator-bot blasted Sylvia with a bout of lava, followed by Peepers and Hater. All three crash through a wall and stop when they hit the wall after it.

The Dominator-bot rushes towards the three, intent on blasting them again.

"Agh! Time to go!" With lightning fast speed, Sylvia grabbed Peepers with her tail and then grabbed Hater's wrist before bolting down the hallway, very barely avoiding another eruption of hot lava.

Sylvia dragged Hater behind her like an old doll, allowing him to hit the ground multiple times.

"AGH! ***SMACK*** LET- ***SMACK*** GO- ***SMACK*** OF- ***SMACK*** ME!"

 _snap!_

Hater's arm came right off at the elbow, and when he hit the ground his face slid against the ground a couple of seconds before finally losing momentum. Sylvia continued sprinting through the ship, neither her or Peepers realizing what's happened simply because of their focus on escaping.

Hater got on his knees, cradling the spot where his hand came off. "HEY! YOU LEFT ME BEHIND YOU IDIOTS!"

Hater watched the two go off into the darkness and groaned loudly. Things only got worse; the overlord saw the dark shadow of the robot behind him, growing ever closer, and decided he had to abandon his anger for the moment. Letting out a short yelp, he made a quick exit down a nearby hallway that was unfortunately not the same hallway Peepers and Sylvia went down.

The robot paused when Hater ran off, seemingly trying to decide who to follow- the powerful but childish overlord or the eyeball with a body and the zbornak. Abruptly, it jerked forward, moving closer towards the hallway Hater went down. After that, it proceeded forward normally, watching the heat trail Hater left through the ship to track him down.

* * *

"…Aaannnd that's done! Now to let the technology do its job." Dominator pushed the manual controller back into its compartment, allowing the Dominator-bot free reign of its mission. "Oh, I can't wait to see how Hater reacts when he sees me! I'd be even better if he saw that he was beaten by a girl; but alas, I can't reveal my identity yet. Unfortunate.

Now to check up on Commander Watchdog and Good ole' Syl'. They have to realize he's gone soon if they haven't already."

The conqueress checked the hallway cameras, and sure enough, she was right.

* * *

"HEY-HEY STOP! STOOOPPPP!" Peepers cried, having realized something was wrong. Hater had stopped screaming a few seconds ago, which meant he was either unconscious or wasn't there anymore.

Sylvia complied with Peepers' "request", coming to a complete stop and pulling him to eye-level. "Hurry up C.P.-what's got your panties into a twist?!"

Peepers looked down, and let out a choked sound when he saw Hater's body-less arm in Sylvia's hand. "S-Sylvia!" The commander stuttered, "Lord Hater isn't HERE anymore; his arm came off!"

Sylvia dropped Peepers on the the floor and looked at Hater's severed arm, her eyes widening in realization.

"Oh."

"OH?! Is THAT all you have to say?! HOW COULD YOU **NOT REALIZE** HE WASN'T THERE ANYMORE?!"

"HE'S A SKELETION, FOR GROP'S SAKE! HE BARELY WEIGHS ANYTHING!" Sylvia snapped back while simultaneously waving her hands in the air. Peepers rolled his eye, ripping the skeleton arm from Sylvia.

" _Give me that!_ I'm going back to my soldiers and waiting for Lord Hater-it shouldn't be too long a wait. Join me if you want." Peepers said coldly, making his way down the hallway even though he had no idea if it led to the exit.

The zbornak scoffed, then blocked the watchdog's way. "What are you doing Squinty? We both know Hater isn't going to meet you down there."

"Of course he is!" Peepers tried to pass the zbornak with no luck.

"No, he isn't. Hater's probably on his way to this guy's control room by now to try and beat him."

"That's ridiculous! I mean, no one with basic common sense would try to face a guy with all these weapons and a warship by himself, especially with an injury and-oh grop he's going to do it…"

Sylvia nodded, a grim look on her face. "Exactly, that's why we need to find Hater before he ends up getting himself made into a puddle of bone marrow."

When Sylvia said this, Peepers looked at her suspiciously and took a couple of steps back. "Tell me, why do you want to _help me?_ We're far from friends and Lord Hater is always chasing you around and trying to destroy you!"

"Well, it's like Wander always says, 'Never hurts to help', and I'll follow that message until I find him. Even if it means helping evil jerks like _you_." Sylvia declared, glaring at the commander during the last statement. "So you can either let me help or don't; it's your choice."

Peepers thought about this: on one hand, this was one of his most hated enemies who was offering help. She could backstab him in a heartbeat at any time and leave him out to the wolves. Plus, his pride wouldn't let him be so easily swayed. But then, on the other hand…well, it was obvious Peepers couldn't just fight by himself if he came across more robot-lava-things! And what would happen if he came across the man in charge of the ship? Even with all his training and experience, he would squashed if this guy was as powerful as he seemed to be. Having Sylvia on his side would greatly improve his chances of winning(and surviving!) and allow for a potential distraction if he had to escape.

And so, Peepers swallowed his pride and spat out, "Fine…we'll call a truce…but don't expect a thank you zbornak."

"Don't care. So, any ideas of where the control room is and how we can reach? My first guess would be either the ship's underbelly or the top of the ship."

"In my opinion, probably the latter; it'd be harder for other villains to get up there and easier to survey the ship. As to how we can get there, the material the ship's made of seems to respond to controlled blasts of electricity. So, if I adjust my blaster's setting…" Commander Peepers took out his blaster, changing the setting from **STUN** to **DISENTEGRATE DIAMOND GLUE.** Holding the gun tightly with both hands, the watchdog readied himself for what he knew was coming. "Get ready zbornak."

Sylvia nodded, covering her ears and preparing herself for the blast. Once that was done, Peepers pulled the trigger and fired. The explosion that followed didn't disappoint; it led to the two being thrown against the opposite wall and a gigantic hole forming the wall.

"HA HA, it worked!" Sylvia cried, a grin on her face. "Nice job Commander! Now come on, let's get a move on!" With great haste, both Sylvia and Commander Peepers ran through the hole…

And straight into the path of 5 Dominator-bots.

"Oh grop, run!" Peepers cried, once again preparing his weapon to fire. The next thing they knew, the two were running through the ship and blasting through walls, screaming as more and more robots gave chase.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH-"

* * *

"-AHHHHHHHHHH!" Hater screamed at the top of his lungs, darting through the hallway in a panic. The giant Dominator-bot was getting closer every second, all the while attempting to blast him with lava.

In his panicked state, Hater tripped on his cloak for the fifth time, causing him to tumble onto the ground. He cried out in pain, "OW! THAT HURT!"

Hater looked back, seeing the robot still descending upon him. "Wait a minute, I don't have to run. I'm LORD HATER!" He stood back up, now with his signature glare. "Prepare to face my full wrath robot!"

He lifted his remaining full arm up, the hand crackling with electricity.

The robot blasted magma at it, covering it completely and putting out the electricity before it hardened completely.

"…Okay,time to run again." The overlord began running and screaming once again, the robot continuing to chase Hater and blast him like nothing happened.

"WHO IS THIS GUY?! RAAHHH!"

* * *

"Perfect set-up. Everyone's running, tensions are high! Nothing is better than a surprise appearance of the baddie behind everything!"

Lord Dominator cracked her knuckles, then transformed into her suit. Once she made sure she was entirely covered, she once again manipulated the ship, forming holes and patheways beneath Hater, Sylvia, and Commander Peepers leading straight to the control room. Predictably, they all fell through the traps, letting out echoed screams through the ship that Dominator smiled sadistically at hearing. She pulled down the cameras as soon as she heard the three fall to the floor with a thump;

It's show-time.

* * *

"Agh, why am I being injured so much today?!" Lord Hater cried out, pulling himself up.

"Oh-sir! I'm so glad to see you!" Peepers said, standing up as well. He held out Hater's lost arm, unsure what to do with it now. "Uh…here, your arm."

"Right…" Hater took his arm back,reattaching it to his body. "So, where are we now Peepers?"

 _ **"Where do you think, dope?"**_ A deep, almost echo-ey voice called out, sending shivers down everyone's spines. Looking up, they all saw the source of the voice was a tall, muscular man completely covered by a dark, full body robe and a skull-like helmet.

"Oh my grop! His costume is just like mine!" Hater screeched, causing puzzlement in Dominator herself, though she didn't visibly show it. "Peepers, are you seeing this?!

…Uh, Peepers?"

The commander didn't respond, both he and Sylvia currently frozen in shock and terror at the sight of this villain.

"Sir…don't you know who that is?!" Peepers asked, still terrified.

"Uh…no?"

"It's Lord Dominator-" The commander began, and then was cut off by Sylvia:

"This guy managed to get from almost the bottom of the Villain Board to Number 1 in less than two weeks!"

"Exactly! Sir, this guy is the most successful villain since your early conquering days!"

Lord Hater couldn't believe what he was hearing; this guy was…better than him.

"Lord Dominator…

that TOTALLY RYHMES WITH HATER! HE SO STOLE MY VILLAIN NAME! RAAAHH!"

Both Sylvia and Peepers facepalmed themselves, not completely surprised by Hater's reaction.

Hater continued on, starting to move closer to the tougher villain. "Lord Dominator, prepare to face the wrath of-"

With a flick of his wrist, Lord Dominator blasted hot lava from his hand, trapping Sylvia, Peepers, and Hater between the wall and now hardened lava covering everything except their heads; all of them were at least a couple feet above the ground.

 _ **"Not the best idea to make a speech before beating up your enemy. It's my opinion, but look where your style got you."**_ Lord Dominator snidely remarked, crossing his arms.

"…This _had_ to happen sooner or later." Peepers said, agreeing to Dominator's statement.

* * *

In another galaxy not so close, yet not too far from the galaxy of Yonder, a certain nomad was in the restroom, pacing around as he anxiously waited for Genesis to pick up.

"Come on, answer!" Wander cried, as if that would make her answer her phone. He was worried for his friend, and Wander wanted to return the phone he had borrowed after his own phone had died. A few seconds after he said this, he got the voicemail(for the third time!):

 _"Hi, this is Genesis-be quick or hang up. Call you later…or not!*RIIING*"_

"Gen,girl, please pick up! I don't know if your phone is dead or what, but I need to talk to ya! I found something really bad that I think you need to hear! Respond as soon as you can-love you!" Wander ended the voicemail, still staring at the newspaper article he had bought only minutes earlier. The title read _"Lord Dominator is leaving a trail of destruction in Yonder-is a galaxy-wide evacuation to occur?"_

* * *

 ** _"So…I know you must be wondering why I brought you onto my ship."_** Lord Dominator began, slowly walking down the steps from the console with his hands behind his back. _**"There's one main reason I brought you here, which is you all have an affiliation with someone known as Wander."**_

Sylvia'sears perked up at the sound of his name, and her eyes widened in terror at the fact that this guy knew who Wander was.

"Wander? What-What did you do to him, you monster?!"

Lord Dominator chuckled darkly at this response. _**"Relax horsey, I haven't done anything to him yet. He's doing perfectly fine, especially with you not around to ruin his fun. He's with an associate of mine, who's been tasked to guard him until further notice.**_

 _ **Now,I'll only say this once to you: stay away from him and me. I have very important plans for this dump and I can't have any of you boozos messing them up. If you try to mess with me or my new pawn, I'll have my associate torture you and Wander until you get the message."**_

"Don't-don't hurt Wander! Please!" Sylvia begged. "He's harmless, he wouldn't hurt anyone, even if he wanted to! Just let him go!"

Lord Dominator cranked his head towards Sylvia, then tilted it slightly.

 _ **"You really think that Wander is just a harmless little guy? That he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone if he tried?**_

 _ **…Honey, you don't know the first thing about Wander if you think that. Oh, and I can assure you, you will never see him again."**_

Laughing evilly, Lord Dominator whipped around back towards the console. Sylvia closed her eyes and lowered her head, trying not to shake; when this happened, Peepers felt a twinge of worry(?) inside.

All the while, Lord Hater remained completely silent. As Lord Dominator gave his speech, he first became very puzzled: Wander was captured by another villain? Hater had just assumed Wander had just been too busy being stupid and helping people to bother him…for about a month…without Sylvia. Okay, maybe Hater should have noticed.

Then, as Lord D went on, Hater's fury slowly flamed up again. This guy had the nerve to flaunt that he had Lord Hater's most hated rival technically imprisoned. But this fury was different from his normal anger- it was less blinding and filled him with a strange kind of determination.

Grunting, Lord Hater managed to ignite his electricity from under the layers of lava. The lava cracked and then melted around him, allowing him to fall back onto the floor. He ignored the frenzied whispers from Peepers telling him to get them down and made his way towards Dominator.

"Alright, listen up Dominator-" without looking, Dominator blasted Hater with his lava, tying his arms against his torso. Hater immediately broke free with his electricity, reducing it to liquid form again. He continued up towards Dominator, undeterred. "You may have a bigger ship than I do, and you may have a lot more, way cooler stuff than I do-"

Slightly concerned that's he's already halfway up the steps, Dominator blasted Hater with lava again, only for him to melt it again.

"-and you may even be slightly better than me. But messing with _my enemy_ is unacceptable and commands my full wrath!"

When Hater finishes this sentence, he's standing just a few feet from Lord Dominator. He snaps his fingers, illuminating his hands with green electricity.

"So take this as my _welcome to the galaxy_!" Hater went to punch the other villain with all his force; at the last second, Lord Dominator turned around and blocked it with a lava sword shifted from his glove.

For a few seconds, Lord Dominator and Lord Hater are eventually matched in force. Then, ever so slightly, Hater was able to push the lava sword closer to the other conqueror, cracking it a little.

Grunting, Hater suddenly broke through the sword, shattering it into pieces; his fist continued to fly until it reached Dominator, hitting him in the left side of his face. Dominator stumbled back, still in shock when Hater proceeded to barrage him with quick, electricity-filled punches to his face and torso.

One of the punches landed ended up cracking his mask, luckily only revealing his left eye and part of his forehead. At that moment, Dominator's reflexes kicked in, and he pushed Hater away before forming a blood scythe with her glove. He slashed at the skeleton with the blood scythe a few times, but every time Hater ducked, the scythe only cutting the top part of his cloak hood.

Following this, Hater grabbed the blood scythe and flung it over his head, and by extension Lord Dominator. The masked overlord quickly dissolved the weapon as he rolled down the stairs, hitting his head a couple of times.

As he rolled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, he lay as still as a dead body. Hesitantly, Lord Hater hopped down to the base of the stairs, standing beside the seemingly unconscious overlord. He lightly kicked Dominator's head a couple of times, getting no response.

"Huh…not really a hard fight. Kinda disappointing." Turning around, Hater proceeded to melt lava trapping Sylvia and Peepers, freeing them both. They fell to the ground, Peepers gasping for the air he had been deprived from stuck under the heavy, boiling basalt. Sylvia remained silent as she got back on her feet, something that concerned Peepers. How she was acting…almost broken…it reminded the commander how she first acted during the interrogation a few weeks back. It made him feel uneasy, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"Hey Peepers, stop staring at that dumb horse!" Hater ordered, pulling the commander back to reality. The commander scrambled back to his feet, turning his head from the zbornak. "Now that I've shown Lord Dominator who's boss, let's go and conquer this dumb planet alre-AKH!"

As it turned out, Lord Dominator had been very much conscious. As soon as Lord Hater's back was turned, he silently got back up, ignoring the searing pain running through his body. Realizing Hater's guard was down, he wrapped his shaking hands around Hater's neck and squeezed-hard-while simultaneously hoisting him into the air.

The skeleton overlord wheezed for breath, frantically clawing at his neck to no avail.

 _ **"You know, this is one of the reasons you're such a crummy villain Hater. You have so much power, yet so little focus, and that leaves you unable to achieve your full potential.**_

 _ **Well, time for you to die~!"**_

"Not so fast Dominator…" Commander Peepers said, his blaster buzzing with power as he grabbed it. With incredible speed, he aimed it at the part of Lord Dominator's face that he can actually see through the cracked mask. "Let me outline the situation for you; I have my blaster set on the highest setting and it's aimed right at your head. I fancy myself a good shoot, so any sudden movements from you will result in not so good things."

Dominator glared at Peepers, shown by his one revealed eye, but then sighs, becoming more annoyed than angry.

 _ **"…Fine, I was bored anyway."**_ Dominator flung Hater at Peepers, knocking them both back onto the ground. _**"Well, that's all I really wanted to say-it's been fun. Remember-stay away or I'll destroy you all~!"**_

With that, Dominator activated the teleportation equipment in the warship via his suit, and all three of them were gone from his sights.

* * *

Back on Blara-Shara Prime, three watchdog soldiers were playing cards with Lady Cady and two of her guards.

"So who do you think this Lord Dominator guy is?" One watchdog asked inquisitively, still looking at his deck of cards.

"I don't know man!" One of the Blara-Shara guards exclaimed, "Maybe he's Lord Hater's brother or something?"

"Oooh, I think he's Lord Hater's father showing him who's boss! I mean the similarities between the two are quite clear, and this guy seems far more sophisticated than Hater." Lady Cady exclaimed, a few others in the group nodding as they listened.

One of the watchdogs suddenly asked, "Wait, Lord _who?_ "

"Uh…Lord Hater, that skeleton Guy we work for…?"

 _"Oh my grop!"_ The watchdog cried, startling everyone else in the group. "I've been calling him the wrong name for SIX MONTHS! Jeremy, why didn't you say anything?!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down dude." Jeremy the watchdog said, "So what did you think his name was?"

"Well, I've been calling him Lord Vad-"

A sudden earthquake halted the conversation; everyone on the planet watched as the huge drill retracted back into the bowels of Lord Dominator's ship. Then, the ship blasted away at hyperspeed, rocking the planet even more. As the planet settled, everyone was left wondering what just happened.

* * *

Sylvia watched as the warship disappeared into space, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

"Man, who was that guy?" She asked herself. The zbornak perked her ears when she heard a moan, and turned to see both Lord Hater and Commander Peepers on their feet again, albeit very dazed.

"Well, it looks like my work here is done. I'll be off-try not to get yourselves into trouble while I search for Wander, okay fellas?" Sylvia began to walk away, but was tugged by her tail by Lord Hater.

"Hey, didn't you hear what that guy said?!"

"Yeah, and I. Don't. Care. I don't care what it takes as long as I get him back."

"Well…I…if anyone is getting to destroy Wander, it's gonna be me, Lord Hater, not some newbie villain!" Lord Hater huffed let go of Sylvia's tail, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Sir, are you saying…you want to call a truce with Sylvia until we find Wander?"

Lord Hater spluttered at what the commander said: "What? No, don't be ridiculous!…But if she wanted to hang around the ship and help me capture Wander then I might hold off destroying her until then."

Sylvia smirked, her hands on her hips:

"You know what, I like the sound of that.

Now if you excuse me, I haven't slept much in the last 4 days and I have a load of untreated injuries, so I'll just…" Sylvia trailed off as she swayed in place, ending up faceplanting into the dirt, unconscious.

* * *

 **Author's note: Whew, that's finally done! Sorry that this chapter took so long to post, I'll try to be quicker next chapter. Please review your thoughts on this chapter!**

 **Next chapter: The Viper**

 **Key info.:**

 **\- Wander returns to Yonder!**

 **\- Wander is suspicious…**

 **\- More Genesis backstory revealed.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter-have a good day!**


	6. The Viper

**Chapter synosis: When Wander returns from his "adventure" to the Fisheye Nebula, he and Genesis are thrown into a situation where they need to escape from the train station with a bounty hunter on their tails. What's worse, Wander has grown suspicious of Genesis and who she really is. Will they escape from the bounty hunter or will their fighting get them captured?**

 **Characters featured:**

 **\- Wander**

 **\- Genesis (Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Vinny "The Viper" Collier (OC)**

 **\- Jeff/Major Threat (minor)**

 **P.S. In the last chapter,I mentioned Commander Peepers' predecessor was Commander Leia Ojo. The word Ojo is a Spanish word, which translates to eye.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

It was late in the evening on the large warship, and everything was silent save for the soft buzzing of technology. There was very few people that lived full time on the ship, and many of them were asleep. There wasn't a real need for guards,given the ship's powerful forcefield and invisibility cloak. But even without any menacing guards around, the massive and confusing layout was enough to intimidate anyone who wasn't familiar with the ship.

Luckily for Wander, he was _incredibly_ familiar with the ship's layout, even to the point of having it memorized, which was incredible due to the length of time it had been since he'd last boarded the ship. So when he was seeking his old friend Jeff, he had no problem finding Jeff's room.

The door to the bedroom swished open as Wander pressed his hand against the scanner lock beside it. As the nomad entered the room, he scanned it for any trace of Jeff having been in there recently.

"Jeff? You here?" Wander called out, a small smile on his face. As he looked around, he noted that Jeff's bedroom hadn't changed much; it was still the same purple themed, lavish, and mostly neat chambers that Wander had wandered(mostly unintentionally) into all the time. Not an object wasn't there or out of place, and the only thing that had changed was that now, Wander was actually allowed to be in the ship.

"Oh, Tumbleweed! Wasn't expecting to see you in here man!" Wander didn't jump or gasp when he heard Jeff behind him, but instead grinned widely and whizzed around to face the older man.

Jeff stood at about 6 feet tall, and had a build and look that would make most people uneasy. His skin was a green that was just slightly darker than Genesis's, and his eyes were dark purple with light purple scleras. The wings attached to his shoulder blades were left open and hung next to his head; other distinctive features included a pair of spiked horns protruding from the sides of Jeff's forehead and an upside down triangle shaped, violet gemstone just above his eyes. Like always, he wore a dark purple robe with spiked shoulder pads underneath the robes and a grayish-purple belt with another upside down triangle on it.

To those who didn't know him, they would assume that he was either an aging musician or some sort of supervillian(actually, he was _once_ a villain, but that was such a long time ago and was beside the point.).

"Oh, hiya Jeff, I was looking for you actually!" Wander responded, clasping his hands together. "I wanted to talk to ya, but couldn't find you anywhere after we finished setting up that treaty, so I figured ya must've been here. Sorry if I was intruding on yer privacy."

"Hey, it's no problem Tumbleweed, you weren't doing anything wrong."

Wander nodded, humming a little tune and clicking his tongue. "Good, good…really good…" He rocked a bit on his feet, hesitant to say what he wanted to say. Jeff immediately realized this, looking at the nomad worriedly.

"Hey now, what's on your mind Tumbleweed?"

"Oh, nothing much…really…it's just…" Wander's smile then cracked, slipping into a frown. He looked down at his feet, and then up at the ceiling. "Well…remember when I told ya about Genesis?"

"The partner you split up with or the new partner who has the big ship?"

Wander held up two fingers: "The second one. She and I became real fast friends and we were traveling together for about a month. She's brave and tough, but she's also really sweet and really seems to care about me!"

As Wander talked, both he and Jeff made their way to the edge of Jeff's well-made bed, both realizing the conversation is going to go on for a while.

"We really connected…and-like most times-I got so caught up in making friends that I ignored a lot of…alarm bells. A lot of things she says don't quite sit well with me and…and I'm worried."

When even Wander was worried that's when Jeff knows he should get concerned. Nothing really fazed Wander-heck, his day job was annoying dangerous villains and trying to be friends with them! After such a long and complicated past with the nomad, Jeff definitely knew that Wander wouldn't be really worried unless something really wasn't right.

"What do you mean by alarm bells?"

The nomad sighed, pulling his knees to his chest as he pondered this. Then, he started talking again,

"For starters, she has a big warship she said she stole from some villain. She says she stole it to make sure the villain wouldn't use it for bad, but to me it'd seem to be a hassle to keep the ship. Selling it or even just leaving it on some planet seems so much easier than traveling around in that clunky thing.

Then, there's her story of how she got that ship. I've been to practically every galaxy, and I've never heard of anyone named Lord Dominator! If this guy has, or had, been going around destroying planets, I think someone would know something about him! Why would Genesis lie to me about that story?!

Then-"

Jeff put his hand on Wander's shoulder, stopping him mid-speech. "Whoa Tumbleweed, don't get yourself worked up!"

With this, Wander took a few deep breaths, nodding: "You're right, sorry. I'll just get to the point- real recently, one of my pals from the galaxy I've been traveling around, Yonder as they call it, sent me a newspaper article.

Lord Dominator is there, and he's destroying planets. Now, I wouldn't be so concerned under other circumstances-but Lord Dominator seemed to appear just a few days after I left the galaxy to come here to help you. And plus,I keep trying to call Genesis about it, but she ain't responding! Denominator entering while I'm leaving is a mighty big coincidence don't you think?"

"Yeah, I have to say it is. So, what do you want me to do?" When Jeff asked that, Wander changed his posture completely, pulling his legs back down and waving his hands and head simultaneously.

"Oh, I don't want you to do anything-really! I just want your advice…" Wander plopped his hands back into his lap, looking into Jeff's eyes with hesitancy and worry. "…how…should I go about checking her story and making sure she isn't involved with Dominator-in a bad way- without making it seem like I'm suspicious?"

The older man took what seemed like an eternity to process this. He was truly surprised at what his friend was saying; Tumbleweed was the most honest, least surreptitious person ever. He never seemed to have any hidden motives when he helped people or tried to make a villain his friend or saved a planet; all the nomad ever wanted was to see a smile on people's faces. To hear Tumbleweed wanting to undertake something sneaky like this…well, one could see what Jeff was feeling about it.

But Jeff knew what he had to do, which was help his friend in his time of need. Relaxedly, he addressed Wander with a gentle smile:

"Listen bud,if there's one thing I know about you is that you have great instincts. You were able to see the good in me and pull it even when others couldn't, and I have no doubt that your suspicions are well-founded." Wander grinned at this, remembering fondly of the pure euphoria he felt when he finally convinced Major Threat to become friends with the nomad.

"However, you have to have hard proof that this Genesis girl really is doing something bad, or else you'll just be throwing around unjust accusations. My advice is that you act normally around her for now. Talk to her about her story, and try to catch her in a lie or see if she sounds nervous when telling it. And if you do find out she's a bad guy, just give me a call; I'll always have an open room for you."

Wander nodded, then wrapped his arms around Jeff's waist and arms warmly. "Thanks Jeff, I knew I could count on ya!"

"No problem Tumbleweed, it's like you say: 'never hurts to help'."

* * *

 **A few days later…**

Wander sat patiently in his seat, watching his fellow passengers stream out of the cart and into the train station to meet their expecting loved ones. Waiting until the last passenger walked past his seat, he hopped out of his chair, grabbed his banjo and joined the back of the line. He didn't mind being at the back, nor did he mind the incredible slow pace to get to the train cart's door; if anything, the wait made him feel better, since the longer this took meant he didn't have to face Genesis so soon.

 _'Alright Wander, just stay calm and remember: be subtle.'_ Wander whispered to himself, trying to calm his nerves.

As soon as he exited the train cart, he was scooped up into a hug by the squealing green skinned alien herself.

"Wandy! It's you! You have no idea how great it feels to see you again!"

"Aww, it's great to see ya too Gen-Gen!" Wander told her, putting a half-fake smile on his face. Genesis then put Wander back down, crossing her arms; the wanderer noticed that she dressed more formally than usual, with a basil green, short sleeved dress, black leggings, and dark green kitten heels. Her hair, usually out and wild, was tied up in a tight bun.

Genesis was ready to say something else when the Orange furred wanderer interrupted her, "Hey, what happened to your arm?"

Genesis's smile fell for a moment as she grasped at the bandage on her left arm; the white bandages covered her entire lower arm, from her elbow to her wrist. But then as quickly as it fell, her smile came back: "Oh, don't worry, that-I just fell on it when I fell out of my bed the other day. Don't worry, it's just a sprain!

Now, let's get something to eat, cause I've been waiting for an 1 and I am famished!"

Wander looked at in disbelief, seeming not to be convinced, but then his frown turns into a wide grin. "…Oh, okay! You know, there's a neat little diner I ate at when I came here that has a terrific banana cream pie!"

"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's get going!" Laughing, Genesis grabbed Wander's hand, making her way towards the giant map many feet away. In her excitement, the girl paid little heed to how Wander's grip wasn't very strong, or how the nomad's smile became a frown as soon as she wasn't looking straight at him.

* * *

Wander and Genesis chose to sit in a booth once they got in the diner, sitting acrosd from each other. Genesis was reading the flimsy paper menu, muttering about how crumbled and dirty it was. Wander skimmed his menu, looking up at his companion every few seconds. Suddenly, he put down his menu and took a deep breath,

"So, Gen, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

She shook her head, eyes half-lidded as she spoke, "Nope, nothing at all really. Haven't really been paying attention to things though-just sleeping and video games galore."

Squinting, Wander slowly nodding. "Uh-huh, so you haven't seen anything about any new villains or old villains lately?"

"Nope, not unless you count the news stories about that Lord Skeleton-Head descending further down the leaderboard. Super sad…and super hilarious!" Gen laughed a bit, throwing her head into the air. Then, she looked back at Wander, smiling widely.

"Oh yeah…Lord Hater…" Wander hadn't thought of the skeleton overlord, the one he had wanted so badly to be his friend merely a month or two ago, at all up until Genesis mentioned him. It was strange to have the overlord back on his mind, he felt…disconnected from the villain; that never happened. Had he really been that self-absorbed with his own problems that he completely ignored his original life goal?

No, he had to stay focused-no getting sidetracked!

"So, over in the Fisheye Nebula, I got to thinking about how we first met. And I know it's nothing, but I can't stop thinking about why you were on that planet in the first place."

Wander looked to gauge her reaction, but she remained cool and answered immediately, "Oh yeah, I saw on my ship's radar how that planet had a hidden burrow of Immensapedes and I never really saw one before. So I thought _'That sounds really cool. Why not?'"_

"That makes sense, but why choose a planet so close to a space station full of Hater's watchdogs? I mean, I sometimes don't think before I dive in, but surely _you_ would have thought of the risks associated!"

"Well-I-" Genesis began, but suddenly stopped, her gaze moving slightly to something behind Wander. She seems to do a small, silent double-take when she sees this, blinking a couple of times before realizing she wasn't just seeing things. The star warrior realized something was wrong as he watched her face morph into a frozen blank look, her eyes reflecting shock and confusion.

"Gen? You okay?" Wander asked, putting down his menu. He decided to look over his shoulder to see what Genesis was looking at, but was forced back into his spot by the girl herself before he completed the action.

"Don't look behind Wander; someone's watching us. And by someone I mean a guy who looks like bad news." Genesis whispered, staring at the cloaked figure sitting in the booth a few feet behind Wander's seat. The man's head was down, but Genesis could see his glowing white orbs glued on her and her companion.

"Oh. So what does he look like?" Wander whispered, not really alarmed yet. Genesis squinted a bit to get a better look at him, simultaneously trying to make it look like she wasn't staring.

"Not really sure; he's tall and thin, but he's in a really dark corner somehow and he's a wearing a hood…" The cloaked figure suddenly snapped his head up, now definitely looking at them. Genesis held her breath, but was relieved when he turned his head to the side and started to talk to the waitress standing next to his table. She couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but could tell it was something involving the man's hood judging by the waitress's gesticulation.

The man rolled his eyes, but nodded and pulled his cloak's hood down. As soon as Genesis laid eyes on the man, she gasped quite loudly, having to cover his gaping mouth to stop herself from drawing attention.

"Gen?"

"…Flarp, Wander… I know that guy…" She said cryptically, her hand clasping over Wander's. Before Wander could even open his mouth, she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him out of the diner, their menus falling with a silent clatter onto the ground.

The mysterious man rose as the waitress left, his eyes narrowing as they continued to follow his targets…

* * *

The two made their way past the dense crowd of people, Genesis trying to put as much distance between the diner and them as possible. She held Wander's very tightly, intent on not letting him go.

"Genny, can we please stop for a minute so you can explain what's going on?" Wander asked worriedly, a little dazed from how fast it had gone from a relatively relaxing meal to them going on the run again.

Genesis shook her head, not looking at Wander: "No, we can't stop! That guy is dangerous!"

"Well, can you at least tell me who he is?"

"…Okay." The green skinned girl was reluctant to tell Wander any part of the truth, but he wouldn't let up until he heard something! "All you need to know is that his name is Vinny Collier, but he's known as The Viper. He's a bounty-Hunter, and I don't exactly have a good history with him, which is why we have to keep away from him!"

"What could you have done that would make him that angry with you?"

No answer.

"…Gen, answer me!" Wander ordered, his voice unusually stern; he pulled Genesis to a stop near an empty bench by tugging on her arm, hard. Luckily, it wasn't her injured arm, or it would've hurt like heck! "Gen, I need to know! What did you d- _eck_!"

Wander's hands immediately went to the back of his neck; they wrapped around what felt to be a small, metal dart with its end stuck in his furry flesh. With a light tug, the dart popped free from his neck, dripping with a mixture of black goo(at least, Genesis hoped it was just goo) and a cool blue, watery liquid.

It was a tranquilizer dart. Perfect.

"Hey Gen, I don't feel too…goooooodddd…" Wander's voice dropped a few octaves as he said the last part of the sentence, his eyes dropping. The tranquilizer dart clattered to the ground, and Wander's whole body quivering like a plant's leaves in a gentle breeze. As the nomad fell to the ground, his friend rushed to catch him. She cradled him in her arms, flicking his arm a couple of times.

"Flabdrasit-out cold." With a quick, decisive move, Genesis pulled Wander against her chest and jumped out of the way off 4 more tranquilizer darts that came her way.

Carrying Wander in a way reminiscent of a mother gently but tightly holding her young child, Genesis begun sprinting in a zig-zag motion through the now panicked crowd. She nearly tripped over her own heels, but gained her balance very quick and kicked them away as she continued to run.

"Ugh…gotta stop wearing heels…" The green skinned girl murmured. Despite her speed, she could feel the presence of The Viper close behind her. He was fast, incredibly fast, and honestly, that didn't surprise Gen-he wasn't called "The Viper" for nothing!

Luck seemed to be on her side today however, because Genesis found herself running towards a train getting ready to leave for Yonder. Using the last bit of her adrenaline rush, she sprinted towards the train as it started to gain traction and jumped between the train carts. With her free hand, Genesis opened a door to one of the door and went through it; however, before she shut it, she looked back and saw Vinny Collier, staring back at her.

Vinny was a humanoid man that stood at 7 feet tall and had a slender build. He was close on the reptilian side, covered with electric blue scales with orange ridges going down his head with a 4 foot long tail poking out of his clothes. He wore a dark brown, zipped up jacket with a hood that's down, a white undershirt that could be seen a bit under the jacket, a pair of black pants, and red sneakers.

Still staring at Genesis, the lizard man jumped inbetween two carts that were both a good distance from Genesis and Wander's location.

Genesis groaned at this before she said, "Great…" rather sarcastically before slamming the door shut.

* * *

Genesis entered the cart and found it surprisingly empty, except for a few passengers who were busy reading, listening to music, etc. She began to calm down a bit, knowing that she had a least a few minutes before Vinny reached them. Gen carefully set Wander down in one of the cushioned seats, then grabbed his hat.

After a few seconds and a quick reach into Wander's hat, the door was boarded up with a few pieces of wooden boards and nails.

"There…that'll keep em' at bay long enough."

"Mmnnh…" Wander started to groan, drawing his companion's attention. He was starting to stir, grasping around for someone or something to hold. Wander waking up so soon was both surprising and somewhat expected; most of the tranquilizer poisons the Viper used were enough to put those 10 times Wander's size to a death-like sleep for days! But then again, Wander had many secrets and abilities the secret villainess didn't know about, yet she never wanted to ruin the mystery by asking. His quality to surpise her was one of the things she lo-

That she found she liked about Wander. No, not even that; it was one of the things she found interesting about him. Yeah, that sounded good.

* * *

Wander's eyes slowly blinked a couple of times, a lazy smile playing on his lips as he sat up and stretched. He hummed happily when he felt his stiff bones crack and be freed from their sleep.

"Ahh, that felt nice…" Wander glanced to his left and saw a wide eyed Genesis. His smile was still on his face when he said, "Hey Gen. Say, where are we?"

The green skinned girl rolled her eyes when he said this, letting out a audible scoff. "We're on a train-don't ask to where, cause I don't know. The point is we need to leave-"

"Where's your friend Vinny? Is he coming?" Genesis stopped in her tracks, head snapping towards the nomad and eyes narrowed.

"What?! Wander, this isn't like your games where you can sing a couple of songs and he'll become our friend or get distracted enough that we can escape; this guy-The Viper- he's not going down that easily." Grabbing Wander's hand again, she pulled (or rather, dragged) him down the aisle. She felt trapped, as if the bounty Hunter was about to pounce on them through one of the Windows or through the train cart's top hatch or…something. She wanted to get off that train and back onto her ship(which was unfortunately still hidden and parked a little way from the train station) as soon as freaking possible! "Now, let's get our butts outta before he-"

BANG!

The door Genesis and Wander were facing was suddenly kicked in; it was also then that the other passengers finally begun paying attention to what was happening. To Genesis's fear, the person who kicked the door was the very person she wanted to avoid- Vinny "The Viper" Collier.

The Viper gazed upon his targets wolfishly, smirking in triumph at the fact that he caught them off guard. It was Genesis's fault-partially at least; she should have thought of the possibility that he would just use his claws to climb across the side of the train and then, predicting she would block off the most convenient entrance, went to the only other exit. And now they were paying the price for it…

Annnndd Wander was still grinning like an idiot.

"Oo! Hiya friend! Your name's Vinny, right? We haven't been properly introduced yet- my name's Wander, and my friend here is Genesis. It's a pleasure to meet you." Wander said, briefly taking off his hat to illustrate his point. The Viper raised a brow at this strange behavior while Genesis not so subtly elbowed the nomad, having to bend down a bit to hit him in the rib.

"Wander, not now…" Genesis hissed to her companion, starting to slowly back away, "Remember what I told you…"

Wander waves his hand dismissively, closing his eyes: "Nonsense Genny! I'm sure that behind his cold, unfeeling, predatory gaze is a huge softie!" He formed a heart with his hands, placing it over his chest. Then, he opened his eyes once again, ready to address the silent lizard man while simultaneously taking his banjo out of his hat.

"So V, do you like banjo music? I can play lots of different instruments, but out of all of 'em I play a pretty mean banjo! Here, I'll play one of my favorite tunes for you!"

Wander started playing an upbeat and simple tune, not paying attention to the bewildered looks of all the other passengers aboard.

 _"oooh traveling the galaxy,_

 _I'm feeling so free,_

 _While I'm seeing all the sights to see,_

 _With just you and me,_

 _This was meant to beeeee-"_

The wanderer yelped as Genesis jerked him into the air and away from his spot; where he stood now had a black puddle that was actually burning through the metal flooring. Unfortunately, Wander's banjo became a victim of this attack, laying on the floor with 2/3rds of its wood black and rotten.

"Agh! What's wrong with you dude?! You almost killed my friend!" Gen said angrily, still clutching Wander as close as she could to her own body. The Viper continued to stare coldly, reloading his tranquilizer(or more accurately, poison) gun with the same black poison without taking his eyes away from them.

"I'm only here for you and your little companion Miss Acacia; everyone else is collateral." The Viper explained, voice thick with a strange accent no one in the train cart could place. "Plus, none of my poisons are truly harmful to living beings; the worst they can do is paralyze you for a few minutes or perhaps give you first degree burns."

"Wait," The green skinned girl began, and then was joined by Wander when she asked, "Acacia?!"

Neither of the two wanderers had a chance to ask what he meant when the whole train cart went into a full panic, screaming and running around wildly.

"AHHH ASSASSIN!" One woman cried, then proceeded to run into a wall. A round, blue haired creature with no hands grabbed a nearby lever with his legs.

"EMERGENCY BRAAAKE!" He pulled on the emergency brake as hard as he could, not paying attention to the possible consequence of his action.

* * *

Outside of the train, the emergency brake ended up doing its job, but only for the that particular cart. Since it was located in the middle of the train, the sudden halt jerked it off from the front part of the train and caused all 8 of the train carts to spin out of control through space.

Inside the cart, everyone is still screaming and is being thrown all around the cart; the only ones not spinning are Wander, who's clutching one of the seats, Genesis, who's holding onto the shaggy carpeting on the ground, and The Viper, who's boots have retractable spikes on them so he can stick to the carpet.

Growling at the reptilian man, Genesis grabbed a nearby passenger and kicked away from him as far as she could, aiming herself towards the Viper. As she flew through the air, she skillfully avoided the tranquilizer and poison darts thrown; then, she landed a punch right in the Viper's gut. Ouch.

Grunting, Viper let go of his dart gun and began defending himself from the onslaught of punches. Genesis punched and kicked him all over, put didn't do so for very long when her opponent suddenly grabbed her by the neck and started punching HER in the face.

The green girl could barely think of what to do through the pain of each punch. It wasn't like other fights were her suit would protect her or where she could easily overpower the other if she really wanted to. This was a skilled, intelligent adult who reacted realistically and didn't let emotions cloud his judgement or make him hesitate. In other words, he was basically Genesis's male counterpart.

Of course, that would imply the two are evenly matched in strength and strategic ability, which proves true once Gen shook off the shock and ripped his scaly hand off her throat. She immediately started to spin around as well, but got some sense of satisfaction by grabbing Viper by the wrists and ripped him from his secure spot, pulling him along with her.

The two were a tangled mess of limbs as they darted all around the cart, both fighting as dirty as they could; biting, pulling hair(or head scales), jabbing their fingers into the other's eyes, you name it. During this struggle, the satchel of poisons Vinny had somehow gotten unstrapped, and Wander managed to grab it before it soared past him. He also managed to grab the dart gun, putting it and the satchel in his hat.

"For safe keeping…" Wander reasoned, then proceeded to continue watching the escalating fight between his friend and the bounty hunter after them.

Then, without warning, the entire cart screeched to a compete halt, gravity doing it's job to slam the passengers against the ceiling, and then slamming them back into the ground. Luckily for Wander, he had a good grip on the fabric of the seats, his small claw ripping deep holes into the seat's padding. Because of this, he was the first to recover from this shocking stop, and had the strength to pull himself to a nearby window.

"Okay, let's see here, where have we landed?" Wander asked himself, gazing upon the colorful, almost sickeningly bright landscape. "Cotton Candy Bushes? Chocolate Milkshake Lakes?" The monad let out a huge gasp, a grin as wide as could be on his face. "We landed on Planet Confectionary! This is amaz-WOAH!"

All the passengers (minus Viper,Genesis, and Wander) rushed out of the slightly crooked train as soon as Wander said What planet they were on, dragging Wander into the mob as they rushed out.

"WAAAIITT!" Wander shrieked to no avail, the door to the train cart slamming shut as the last passenger bolted out. Now alone, both Genesis and The Viper stood opposite of each other, scrutinizing their adversary.

Neither looked to still be in near perfect health, though the green skinned girl's left eye was a bit red from being poked. Her hair bun has become more messy, but isn't quite out of its bun, and one of her dress sleeves had somehow been ripped off. The Viper's clothing was all a bit rumpled, and his tail is raised threateningly.

"Finally, we're alone at last, like old times. How are you doing Acacia? I've been doing a lot better, considering how we left off 8 years ago…"

"Ugh, this again! So I cheated you out of a 20,000 credit diamond and left you in a sewage pipe! You did worse to me!" Genesis said, crossing her arms. "And plus, you had to see it coming- if you hadn't noticed back then, we were thieves, smugglers, and bountyhunters. People like us eventually end up stabbing their associates in the Back!"

"Oh, and what are ya now? Some sorta goody-two shoes with your little…boyfriend? This is only karma for what you did to me, your loyal partner, all those years ago."

Genesis scoffed at this ridiculous notion; "Loyal…HA!"

"You know, just cause we're friends, I'll give you a little information on the person who set me on this quest; I'm sure you know him, he's on the Galactic Villain Leadboard. I don't pay much heed to what villains are on there, but I hear he's in the top 5, and he's the most ruthless guy around. Almost all the planets he conquered were destroyed by him soon after!

Yes, I'm talking about Lord Dominator."

At that moment, Genesis's mind went to total blank, her eyes turning as wide as saucers. She actually had to make a conscious effort to keep her jaw from dropping. Finally, she said something:

"L-Lord Dominator?! Are you really sure, cause it could've been a pranker or something!"

"Wha do you take me for, Acacia? I met with the guy; stayed pretty quite, and he wore the big scary mask and that suit of armor he wears on the Villain Board. He also gave me 10,000 credits up front and promised me 25,000 credits for each of you, alive, when I brought you to him."

"…Huh, explains why you haven't killed me yet. But I'm sorry to say that you won't get your payment, old pal."

Vinny C. chuckled at this, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. Then he said, "Actually…I am." With that, he pulled a mini, backup tranquilizer gun that was in his pocket and shot directly at Genesis's heart. It met its target, given how unexpected the move was to the conqueress.

Instead of feeling drowsy however, Genesis felt a numbness crawl through her heart and into her veins, moving incredibly fast; from her chest to her arms and her legs, and to her toes and fingers too. Within a few seconds collapsed onto the ground on her back, unable to move anything below her neck.

"Huh, the old Barzania Venom trick-you clever boy." Genesis said, smirking lightly as she craned her head towards Vinny as best she could. She knew she wasn't in any real danger when it came to her health, as the venom only paralyzed with muscles controlling voluntary movement; the bad news was that she was stuck like this for 10 entire hours.

"Learned from the best-me. Plus, you should know better than to let your guard down like that. I'll get you, and once your companion comes back to get you, I'll bag him. Then, I'll gain a loyal customer."

Gen glared at Vinny as the reptilian smiled evilly, then looked around the cart.

"So, when do you think your little buddy will get here?" Right on cue, the soft click of weapon was heard behind the Viper. Turning around, he came face to face with the Orange furred nomad, an uncharacteristic serious look on Wander's face as he pointed the Viper's own dart gun at him. "You know, if I were to watch this from the outside, this would be pretty funny."

"Hello to you to, pal. Now, just stay still and I promise you'll be fine." Wander said, his voice calm and unwavering. Vinny just scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Please, that's a custom made weapon; you don't know how to use it."

Within moments, Wander aimed an empty dart at the Viper's shoulder and fired, hitting his target dead on. The reptile man grunted, pulling the dart out as quickly as possible as Wander reloaded the weapon, this time the dart was filled with the black, wood rotting poison.

Too bad Vinny used the only poison that he had for the mini tranquilizer gun.

"Sorry to disappoint you friend, but I do." Wander smiled, sure he had the other's attention by now. "Now, I have something just for you…"

Genesis held her breath, actually worried that Wander, small, innocent Wander would do something drastic. That was her job, not his!

Slowly and dramatically, Wander used one of his hands to reach into his hat, spending a few seconds rooting through it. He then quickly pulled it his hand out, now closed over the top of a hefty, Brown bag. Unceremoniously, Wander flung it into the Viper's chest; the bag split onto the ground, the contents being revealed to be a large amount of gold coins.

At the sight of these coins, the Viper's eyes widened immensely, while Wander cautiously lowered the dart gun. Wander began to explain to the other male, "Those coins, when transferred to credits, will equal over 68,000 credits, which is a lot more than what Lord Dominator is offering for both of our heads."

"I-"

"If you leave now, you can make a train out of this galaxy and get yourself settled in a brand new galaxy. If you just want to fight however, I'll be hesitant but willing to oblige." Wander said, his smile twisting into a sad frown at the thought of having to fight. "And before you say anything about not being a coward and not losing to a noodle arm like me, let me tell you something, **friend…"** Wander let the dart gun clatter to the ground, but proceeded to crush the weapon with his foot by stepping on it as hard as he could.

Kicking it aside, Wander swiftly moved in front of the Viper and pulled the reptilian man onto his knees so that the two were at eye level. Before Viper could protest, Wander pulled him close, rather gently actually, and whispered in the Viper's ear.

From her position, Genesis couldn't hear anything that was being said. Whatever it was though, it was effective; as soon as Wander pulled away, The Viper grabbed the bag of coins, as well as the coins that fell out of the bag, and put it in his satchel(that Wander had gotten out of his hat). Once the satchel was slung over his shoulder again, Vinny got back up on his feet and pulled his jacket's hood over his head.

"This isn't over, Acacia. I will come for you, when you least expect it." Vinny threatened as he turned and stared straight into Genesis's eyes. Then, he was gone, the gold coins jingling as he ran. Now Genesis and Wander were alone, and Wander didn't look happy. He didn't look happy at all.

* * *

The nomad pulled his companion into a sitting position, dragging her closer to the wall and leaning her back against the door. He then sat across from her in a criss-cross-Apple sauce position; the upset, angry look on his face didn't go away.

"Heh…man, that was crazy, am I right?" Genesis said, putting on a toothy smile. "I can't believe you were about to shot the guy, with his own blaster! That's hilarious! Speaking of which, we should probably get me to a hospital to get a cure for this paralysis poison, cause I'm NOT having you feed me through a straw!"

Maybe that would take a hold of his attention; she could distract him and get him to calm down before he-

"Genesis, please don't change the subject. You didn't tell me that you met the Viper or that you were partners." Wander said bluntly. "Why didn't you tell me about him before all this?"

"…oh, you heard the whole thing, didn't you?" Genesis asked, her smile wiped off her face. "Listen Wander-"

"No, YOU listen; you could've DIED today because of this guy! If you just told me about your past with him, I would've understood the threat he posed, but instead you decided to keep secrets from me again!" Wander had tears in his eyes, but refused to let them fall. "Gen, I respect your privacy, but things like this and your past with Lord Dominator and all that are things I need to know for both of our sakes. You not telling me those things makes me feel like you don't trust me. And if you don't trust me, well…I'm not quite sure what to do about that."

Wander let out a huge sigh, taking his hat off and hugging it close to himself in an attempt to comfort himself. The green skinned girl could clearly see he was upset, and not just about her not telling him the complete truth about the past. It was about the principle of trust and truth, and how Wander felt she cracked that principle.

She felt a mix of emotions; on one hand, she found some amusement in watching Wander's unhappiness up close. She hadn't misery caused by her own hand so directly since her early days of villainy as a ne'er-do-well. But on the other hand, him not trusting her did not fare well for her plan. Would this discovery spur him to leave her while she couldn't chase him?

Then, on the other other hand, just looking at Wander, so unusually upset and not at all like the happy, optimistic furball he was when he was singing that stupid song to The Viper, it was…it brought up something Genesis didn't like inside her. It flamed up inside her gut, burning her insides up(metaphorically, of course). She knew it wasn't anger or sadness, but something much more complex. There wasn't much she could do to stop this feeling, that indescribable emotion making her feel so…horrible. Unfortunately, she knew the only option she had at that point was something she had to do.

"*Sigh*Okay Wander, I'll tell you the truth. And if you're still mad at me,I won't blame you." Wander's head darted from his hat back to his friend, easing his tight grip on his hat as Genesis went into her explanation with little emotion in her voice.

"When I was a kid, I was left all on my own with no home, no family; I was just some homeless girl barely scraping by. So one day, I took a risk and stole food from a planetary market-I found it was easier than it should have been. Before I knew it, I was the only 14 year old in a group of criminals known only as The Firestormz. My partner in crime back then was Vinny Collier, though you probably already knew that. We committed a lot of crimes, some for money, others for fun.

I had fun, but something felt like it was missing. I didn't know what it was at first, and assumed I just wanted to go solo criminal-wise. So, I fixed up an abandoned warship, started conquering planets in a couple of galaxies,but felt nothing. No thrill, just…emptiness. So, I came to this galaxy, and heard about you. Mainly, I heard that you were trying to reform Lord Hater. And that's when I realized that I wanted out of this-this life of crime I'm spiraling into, and I knew I needed your help to do that. I watched you, waited for the right moment to approach you, and eventually I found it when that Rider incident occurred. And…you know the rest. There, that's it, that's the truth.

Honestly I don't know why Lord Dominator put a bounty on us; I never did anything to wrong him, surprisingly. I know I should have told you the truth, but I didn't want you to think of me as one of those villains you fix up and then run off once you're done."

The Orange-furred nomad sat silently, processing all of what Genesis told him. "Gen, I…get it. You spent your whole life not trusting anyone, and so it's hard to actually trust someone and not always have a deep, horrible secret. But Gen, you need to let go of that!" Wander took Genesis's hand into his own, giving her a soft smile. "We're friends, and I care for you a lot; I won't just leave you when I get bored. True friends stick together, no matter what, and always give each other a chance to make things right."

"So you…forgive me?" Genesis asked nervously. Wander nodded, putting his hat back in its usual place on top of his head.

"Yep, I sure am! But you need to promise me that you'll put more trust into me, okay?" Without hesitation, Genesis nodded.

"Of course!…But seriously, I really think I should get some medical attention immediately."

"Oh, sorry!" Wander lifted Genesis onto his back, lurching over as he was barely able to carry her. Gen giggled at his effort, and how he huffed and puffed as he walked.

"It was pretty cool how you went so serious on that guy, I'm not lying."

"Well, it's the last time you'll see me that serious, hopefully at least."

Wander smiled, genuinely and sweetly, suddenly back to his regular self. Genesis smiled back, relieved that things would stay the same between them…at least for now. Still, one question bothered her:

 _'Who was the one who really put that bounty on Wander and me?'_

* * *

 **Author's note: Finally, finished with this chapter! So, what do you think should happen next? As usual, you can review or PM your thoughts, as well as any mistakes you found that I made.**

 **EDIT: I changed the part of Genesis's backstory with the warship, making it so she just fixed an abandoned ship instead of stealing one. This is to clear any confusion that Genesis may have stolen Dominator's ship, as pointed out by NyaNyaKittyFace.**

 **Next chapter: The Wordsmith: Part 1**

 **Key info:**

 **-Westley returns?!**

 **-Another new OC**

 **-Fairytale time!**


	7. The Wordsmith: Part 1

**Chapter Sypnosis: A woman named the Wordsmith tells the tale of a sorceress named Dominique a bard named Songbird, and a jester named Westley, who all want to meet the queen of Yondera for very different reasons.**

 **Chara** **cters featured:**

 **\- Wander/Songbird**

 **\- Genesis/Dominique(Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Westley**

 **\- The Wordsmith(OC)**

* * *

A young, humanoid woman sat in a rich purple armchair, with one leg crossed over the other. She had a lean build, as well as light magenta skin, black hair arranged in a neat bob, and four icy blue eyes that were all covered by a pair of round, four lense glasses. She wore a dark blue turtleneck sweater, black slacks, and black loafers.

She was reading a book when, for no particular reason, she looked up. In a British accent, she said, "Oh, hello viewers! I'm glad you chose to watch this story today!

You must be wondering 'oh, where's Wander and Genesis? Where are the characters of the story I was just now reading?' Well, don't worry, they'll come up very soon. Now for the introduction- I'm the Wordsmith, renown for my ability to weave words very well. I've written many stories-one of my newest ones is "The Bard's Ballad"."

The Wordsmith pulled out a large storybook that was tucked beside her on the seat, the title being written in big, soft pink cursive. She put it on her lap, opening it to page 1. "Listen to it, and you'll be surprised at the twists and turns!

Now, there was once a preternatural land called Yondera where sorcerers, demons, and all sorts of strange magic thrived. In this land, one kingdom united the people: the Hearth Dynasty, led by Queen Sunniva.

While a large portion of the population were happy under the Hearth Dynasty's rule, there was a well known discrimination of anyone supernatural, which was actively encouraged by the ruling kingdom. So, this fraction of Yondera either had to hide away in their own secret communities or live as second-class citizens among those that feared them.

One day, a witch known as Dominique, who lived by herself in the woods, made the journey to the nearby village for supplies…"

* * *

Dominique faced the door to the local pub, which was so "eloquently" called 'Ye Local Pub'. A flyer was nailed to the door, saying the annoyingly common phrase "Glory to the Sun Queen" in big, exuberant letters. Rolling her eyes, she ripped the flyer off the door and burnt it with a pink flame coming from her hand.

A few seconds later, Dominique opened the door to the local pub, but severely underestimated how weak the door's hinges were and caused it to slam open. The moment the door slammed open, all the lively activity inside it haltes. The witch's scleras were glowing electric pink with magic, as they usually did. Dominique was incredibly beautiful, with a tall, slim body, lime green skin dotted with pink freckles, and long, white hair that was wild, curled, and reached her shoulders. Her ensemble consisted of a crimson red blouse with elbow length sleeves, a black,flowing skirt reaching her ankles, and black boots that ended just below her knees. Her makeup was just as dark, with black lipstick, navy blue eyeshadow, and black eyeliner that was designed to look like teardrops dripping down from her eyes and onto her cheeks.

The witch continued on her path through the pub, not minding the mix of scared and disgusted looks the people(AKA peasants!) were giving her.

 _'Dominque was a practitioner of the darker types of magic, and as such, she was feared by the common folk of Yondera. This made any kind of interaction, buying food, getting directions, or just making small talk, very difficult.'_

Dominique stopped in front of the bar counter, watching the trembling barkeep trying to duck under the counter. Scowling, Dominique pounded her fist on the wooden surface repeatedly until the cowering man peeped his head over the counter.

"Hello. Listen, the trader in this town doesn't supply purple buttercups anymore and I really need them for…research purposes." Dominique said flatly. "Do you know any other traders who sell them?"

The barkeeper quickly shook his head in a no motion, even though he did know an alchemist who had purple buttercups in stock. If he told her where it was, there was no telling if the witch would force him to come with her to be sure he wasn't lying.

Turning around and looking expectantly at the other patrons, Dominique watched them all copy the barkeeper's head shake. They were all shaking in fear.

Dominique scoffed at this, her eyes becoming a darker shade of pink that they were before. "Okay, I see what's going on here: I wear dark clothes," She pointed to her skirt, "I have magic," She pointed to her eyes, "and I live alone in the woods, so therefore, I must dangerous! Right?! Isn't that what you're all-" The green skinned woman suddenly stopped, realizing she was dangerously close to losing her temper. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Nevermind, I'll find them myself. You may resume your normal activities…dimwits."

Then, the witch quietly walked out of the pub, her calm demeanor hiding a storm of rage at how she's always treated this way.

* * *

Dominique groaned as she kicked the door open and walked into her small, stone house, throwing the empty bag full of spell materials across the room.

"I can't believe those vendors made me pay triple the price for supplies! 'A tax' they say-I'm not stupid! They're all the same, those humans with their loyalty to their supposedly "good queen"! But what good queen would let her some of her people suffer?!"

She groaned once again, then flopped onto her comfy, relatively clean bed. It had crimson red blankets covering it-her favorite color before black. Dominique stared up at the ceiling, playing with her fire magic as she did so; she watched the pink flames dance between her fingers excitedly and brightly. It was beautiful yet so potentially deadly…like her.

"Ugh, I hate those stupid nobles up in their marble castles, acting like they're _sooo_ much better. I wish I could just take my magic and make some sort of machine that could _suck the life out of all of them!"_ Dominique destroyed the small fire between her hands by crushing it; it did nothing to alleviate her anger.

A few seconds of contemplative silence pass. Then, the green beauty sat up in her bed, a devious smile on her face.

"…Hm,but…since I can't…I'll just have to do the next best thing…"

Without wasting a second, Dominique jumped out of her bed and grabbed a black cauldron that was laying on its side on the floor. The fireplace ignited with Dominique's signature pink flames, and she placed the cauldron over the fire once it was hot enough.

"The laws and traditions of the Sun Kingdom have always stated that if one defeats the reigning monarch in a one-on-one duel, then they become the new king or queen. I assume the queen has been trained to deal with this situation, so we would be evenly matched in skill." The green skinned girl said to herself, filling the cauldron halfway with an entire bottle of a strange, white liquid.

"However, there's one potion that I know that can completely tip the scale to my side; that can not only bring her down, but can erase her out of existence! Oh, what wonderful justice!"

Dominique's smirk deepened as she thought of the what could-no,what _would_ happen when her plan succeeded. She was so ecstatic, she could barely contain herself. Then, as her idea started to become an actual, calculated plan in her mind, she began singing.

 _' **Glory to the Sun Queen'**_ ** _The_ _y say in the street,_**

 ** _'Glory to the Sun Queen' They think they're so neat,_**

She rolled her eyes and scoffed, then turned her back from the cauldron. She used her magic to levitate four small vials of liquid of various different colors from a nearby cabinet.

 ** _That worthless woman is worshipped and praised,_**

 ** _But wouldn't they better with her out of the way?_**

The vials' contents were poured into the cauldron, turning the liquid to a bright, swirling neon purple.

 ** _…Well,_**

 _ **OOOOOKAAAAAAAAAYYYYY**!_

Dominique giggled with maniacal, childlike glee, twirling around as she sang the last note.

 ** _No more worship for the sun queen,_**

 ** _Who, with my magic, I'll erase!_**

 ** _And once my plan comes through,_**

 ** _They all with have to face it!_**

 ** _So say goodbye to the good queen!_**

 ** _She's over with, she's DONE!_**

The bag of ingredients flew over the cauldron; carefully, Dominique made sure only certain ingredients fell into the black pot. She took a wooden ladle and made it stir the mixture in the pot on its own as she continued singing.

 ** _For the humans, everything will change,_**

 ** _Once I have won!_**

 ** _So I must determine,_**

 ** _Is my magic really up for the test?_**

 ** _Can I prove that I am still the best?_**

Pulling the wooden ladle out of the cauldron and setting it aside, Dominique then grabbed an empty vial and put it near the ladle.

 ** _Time to see, no delay,_**

 ** _I must start this straight away,_**

 ** _No more shall anyone saaaayyy_**

With a flick of her wrist, she caused the mixture to, in essence, go crazy, crackling like electricity and emitting a light purple fog.

 ** _Glory to the Sun Queen…_**

 ** _After today!_**

Dominique laughed darkly, her entire body glowing with a pink aura. Her whole body was practically quivering with anticipation. Taking a deep breath, Dominique began chanting the spell needed to complete the potion, in a strange, reverse language.

 ** _Drgs grsh szgivw rm nb svzig,_**

 ** _R xivzgv gsrh sliiryov klrhlm_**

 ** _Nb vmvnrvh rmgl gsv kozmv lu mlmvcrhgvmxv!_**

* * *

 _'Unbeknownst to the beautiful sorceress, someone was watching her as she repeated her spell. Two someones, to be exact.'_

The two persons were both peeking out of her conveniently open window, one innocently smiling while the other looked upon the woman worriedly.

The one that was smiling was around 4 feet tall, was covered in Orange fur, and was thin with noodle arms. He wore a green, floppy hat with a gold star attached to it. He also wore a white, long sleeved shirt under a short sleeved dark green tunic/vest that was embroidered with gold designs and reached his knees, black leggings, Brown boots, and a gold cape that also reached his knees.

The other person was pudgy and was a full head shorter than the Orange furball, with his whole head being just one, bright blue eye. He was dressed like a jester, wearing a white and red-vertically striped jumpsuit, white gloves, pointed red shoes, and a white and red-vertically striped jester hat with a peculiarly placed yellow star in the center of it.

Pulling themselves from their view, the two crouched down in the grass, facing each other.

"Wowie, did ya hear her voice? She was enchanting-she's the perfect person to add to our little band Westley! She even wants to go to the Sun Palace like us!" The Orange furred one whispered to 'Westley '. One could practically see the smile in his eyes.

"I don't know about her Songbird: she has a good voice, but she seems like really bad news!" Westley whispered back. Songbird tilted his head a bit in confusion at this statement, and he asked, "Whaddya mean?"

"Did you hear her song? It sounded really, really angry and ominous. Plus, she practically threatened the queen!"

Songbird shrugged at this. "Lots of songs have symbolism and double meanings, like the famous ancient folk song-" The green wearing male let out a series of what sounded like growls and coughs. "Come on, let's introduce ourselves!"

"…Okay." Songbird silently clapped his hands, then dragged his friend towards the entrance to the stone house. Westley quickly added, "But if she starts chanting something that sounds like a curse, we're leaving!"

* * *

Dominique poured the small amount of liquid that was left in the cauldron into the empty vial; most of it had evaporated while the witch was saying the spell. When the vial was filled to the brim, she put a cork over the top of it.

"Perfect…" Dominique said, shaking the vial a bit. "Just gotta throw it onto her and-"

The door suddenly slammed open, letting a burst of light in. "Hello~!"

"GAH!" Dominique jumped, and she fumbled with the vial, almost dropping it. After getting a good hold on the small bottle and sighing in relief, she angrily turned to the door, thinking it was her neighbor, a forest nymph who insisted everyone called him Sydney, or perhaps an overly curious talking woodland creature who made the mistake of entering this house. So she was shocked when saw a creature known as a watchdog and a…she wasn't sure what the other one was!

"My name is Songbird and this is Westleg. I'm sorry to bother you madam, but-" Songbird started, but was quickly interrupted by the witch.

"What are you DOING in my house?! Ever heard of knocking?!" Dominique screeched at them. "Plus, you almost made me ruin my…" The witch hesitated for half a second, trying to think of an explanation for it. "My special perfume!"

"Again, sorry about that mam', but we were just passing by and I couldn't help but notice you're beautiful singing voice! It is simply incredible, especially near the end of your song! If you'd indulge us, we'd love to ask if you'd join us for a performance!"

 _'Dominique was puzzled at first, but soon put two and two together: the outfits, the banjo strapped to the back of the one known as Songbird, the star symbol they wore on their hats. They were two of many wandering entertainers who loved to spread merriment across the land, even through all the dangers there were to traveling. Many wouldn't suspect them to mean any harm, so they'd be a perfect cover.'_

Soon realizing her chance, Dominique put on a sickly sweet smile and did damage control: "Oh! That's…actually really sweet of you to say about my singing! By the way, sorry about yelling at you earlier, I was just really surprised. My name's Dominique, but I also go by Domi. So what do you mean with this career opportunity?"

His smile growing wider, Songbird began to explain, "Well-as you can probably tell by our clothes-I'm a bard and Westley is a jester. We think you'd be the best candidate for making this daring duo into a terrific trio, that is if you don't have anything else to do."

"Actually, I don't really have anything to do. So, I'll be more than happy to go with you guys, with the condition that we make the Sun Palace our first stop!"

"Sure, we were planning on going there anyway. So it's a deal!" Songbird and Dominique held their hands out to seal the deal; the Orange furball quickly spit on his hand before holding it out once again, making Dominique inwardly cringe. Taking a deep breath, Dominique shook Songbird's hand, then quickly wiped it on her skirt.

"Okay, before we get moving, I just need to put on my face!" Dominique turned the two wanderers around, making sure they weren't facing her. "Don't look until I say-this process is disturbing to both myself and those watching."

Both males obeyed her command, slightly scared of what was about to happen. When the process started, both closed their eyes(or in Westley's case, eye) tight, hearing the disgusting squishing and cracking behind them. After what seemed to be an eternity, Dominique called out again. "Okay, you can turn around boys!"

When Westley and Songbird did so, Songbird cried out excitedly. "OOH, you look so pretty!"

"Thanks! You can call this girl Lady Demurra!" As 'Demurra', Dominique was much shorter, but was still taller than Westley and Songbird: her hair became poofy and golden blonde, reaching her waist, her eyes became sapphire blue with normal white scleras, and her skin was a clear and colored the shade of porcelain. Her lips were plump and bright pink, and her eyelids colored with light blue eyeshadow. She wore a cerise pink, Mermaid gown with a black pouch attached to the left hip of the dress, a v-neck neckline and sleeves that reached her wrists. The neckline, wrists, and bottom of the dress were all accented with gold lace, and she wore cerise pink heels and white gloves.

This appearance was vastly different from Dominique's real appearance, which raised one question for Westley: why would she take the appearance of a human? Was she hiding something?

However, that wasn't something he dared ask, especially if the answer was really yes! Instead the jester asked, "So…are you ready to get going my lady?"

'Demurra' grinned ear to ear in a way that looked almost evil to Westley. As she spoke, she put the vial of 'perfume' in the pouch. "Certainly. Let's go right now…"

Squealing, Songbird pulled his friend and his newest companion into a tight hug, holding each of them with one hand. "YAAA-HOOO!"

* * *

 _'And so, the three set off to the Sun Palace, which was at least 2 days away if they walked the whole way, which wasn't at all likely. With her magic drained, Dominique knew she had to endure the long, treacherous journey to the palace._

 _Soon, the group approached the draw bridge dividing the woods and the road to the capital.'_

The three walked carefully through the trees, with Dominique leading the group, Westley staying in the Back to better watch for anyone possibly following them, and Songbird was right in the middle, playing his banjo.

"So Domi, how do you like my banjo playing? Any improvements I can make?" "Nah, it sounds pretty good." Dominique said, trying to make it sound like she actually cared about how his banjo sounded. Songbird smiled, his banjo silent now. "I know a lot of songs on this baby! Have any reque-"

"HALT!" A high pitched, scratchy voice called out; then, a half foot tall, purple pixie wearing clothing made of leaves fluttered out of the trees, blocking the group's way. He continued, "I am the keeper of this bridge, and only I can control it! Only on those who are proven worthy may pass!"

"Mr. Pixie, how may we prove our worthiness to you?" Songbird asked, while Dominique rolled her eyes and walked to the back of the group.

"That is simple-to pass, you may find three orange rings in the-" "NOPE!" With a large rock, Dominique crushed the pixie, making it a purple smudge on the ground. The pixie gurgled before suddenly going silent.

"Yeah, sorry, but I'm not wasting my time with that!" Dominique said, throwing the large rock to the side.

 _'Wha-that-that wasn't supposed to ha…*throat clearing* Uhh…And with that, the witch killed two birds with one stone, or rather one pixie with a large rock! Ha ha ha…ha…'_

Songbird gasped in horror, sliding next to the purple smudge. "Did you have to kill him?!"

The witch scoffed at this, "Please, it's a freaking pixie, not a fairy. It's made of pure energy, so it'll reform itself! Seriously, this is basic knowledge!"

"That…is true!" Westley piped up. He patted his friend comfortingly on the shoulder, saying "Don't worry Songbird, he'll be fine."

"O-okay. Let's go then!" Songbird stood up, instantly feeling better. He once again smiled in an oh-so-sweet way. For some reason, this made Dominique smile too-albeit, it was a very small smile that ended before anyone saw it, but a smile nonetheless.

* * *

"So, where are we gonna sleep when night falls?" Dominique asked, watching how the sun was starting to set. It wouldn't matter either way; she was set on reaching the Sun Palace either way, but would rather sleep under an actual roof instead of on the dirty, hard ground.

"There's a village nearby that we've used as a resting and trading hub for many years. It's lead by Governor Hater; don't worry, he's really a sweetheart!"

Westley perked up when Songbird mentioned the village, squeezing inbetween the two. "Oh yeah, I actually came from there! The governor is really nice and he protects everyone and the houses are…"

As Westley continued babbling, Dominique felt that something just wasn't right with what he was saying. As she thought harder about it, she felt a strong headache coming on, clouding her thoughts; seeing her discomfort, Songbird asked, "What's the matter?"

"It's just-Governor Hater? That…just doesn't…it doesn't sound right. The name, it just-doesn't feel right on the tongue-"

"Hey, are you still paying attention?" Westley asked, a little hurt. Songbird rushed to reassure his friend: "Oh, no, we were still listening! You were on the subject of it being mostly supernatural people right?"

"Oh, yeah: the village is mostly people with magic or monsters, though there's some humans occupying it. According to this thing that Sir Peepers made us take called a 'census', less than 1/3rd of the occupants are human!"

"That…doesn't sound right either. Humans aren't-" Dominique stopped her muttering when pain pierced through her mind, making thinking even harder to do. "Ugh…what's going on…?"

"OH BOY, WE'RE HERE!" Westley cried happily, pointing up ahead. "Its right there, where the big bonfire is!"

Dominique squinted, finding she could see the village better than the one eyed jester. "Yeaaahh, I think it's less of a bonfire and more of the entire village being burnt to the ground?"

"Wha?" Westley then gasped, horrified when he looked more closely. Only 30 feet away was his entire village on fire, with a giant fire lion in the middle of it. The lion was roaring and spouting fire from its mane,as the terrified villagers ran around; some were on fire, some were looking for water, and some were just running!

"Oh my gosh! We have to help them!" Songbird then sprinted towards the village, followed closely by Westley. The witch stayed behind, not quite sure she wanted to play hero today. "Westley, Wan-I mean, Songbird, stop! Think about this first, you idiots!"

"Sorry, but I just gotta help!" The bard called back, then ran towards one of the villagers on fire. As he helped that villager 'stop, drop, and roll', Dominique face-Palmer herself repeatedly, groaning as loud as possible.

"This is so ridiculous! I don't have the patience or magic to deal with this right now! I would probably have an easier time leaving them here!" Nevertheless, the green skinned girl found her feet running towards the cluster of burning homes and the cause of that fire, trying to ignore her pounding headache.

* * *

As Songbird and Westley continued their combined effort to help, they soon came across the leader of the fine town, Governor Hater, halfway buried under a pile of flaming rubble.

"Governor Hater!" "Songbird, Westley, get me out of here!" The governor screeched, feeling extremely panicky as the fire got more unbearingly hot.

"Oh-don't worry Governor, we got ya! Westley, grab his left arm and I'll grab his right!" Songbird and Westley grabbed one arm each and started pulling them backwards. "HEAVE!"

"HO!"

"HEAVE!"

"HO!"

"HEAVE!"

Westley suddenly yelped when the lion grabbed him by the tail, flinging him into the air. Screaming, Westley was grabbed once again by the lion's tail, who seemed amused by the watchdog.

Then, a large stream of water hit the lion right in the face, which caused it to scream in pain and surprise. Holding a large, empty wooden pail was Dominique, now out of her disguise and in her normal form.

"HA! Like that, huh?! HUH?!" The witch mocked, an equally mocking smirk on her face. Taking this challenge as an offense, the lion took its attention off of Westley, allowing the watchdog to fall onto the ground.

As the lion pounced at her,Dominique teleported a few feet away in front of a well. Dropping the pail on the ground, she used what little magic she had to levitate the water from the well, letting it float over her head.

Realizing the threat to its the fire lion angrily stomped back to the woods, growling intensely at the witch before doing so. Dominique sighed in relief at having avoided a fight, then she used the water to put out all the fires across the village. Then, she cleared all of the rubble with a wave of her hand, stacking it all in a pile in the middle of the village.

* * *

Completely and physically drained, Dominique resisted the urge to fall to her knees and dry-heave. She stumbled a bit as she walked over to Songbird, Westley, and Governor Hater. She sighed, "Okay, village is saved-it's time for me to sleep. And just so you know, I only did this because this was the only place we could reach before sundown."

Governor Hater rolled his eyes, walking off to his mostly intact home, leaving the three alone.

"Dominique, are you okay?" Songbird quietly asked, stepping forward and examining Dominique for any injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling drained after using what little magic I had; it's gonna take a while to recharge it." Songbird gave her a worried look, but still kept a smile on his face. He gently rubbed her arm, looking her in the eyes and saying, "Well, if you feel funny or wanna talk, just tell me please."

As the bard rubbed her arm, Dominique felt heat run up to her cheeks and her heart sped up. Could it be possible she actually…had a crush on that stupid furball?! That was…ridiculous-she's only known him for a few hours! And beside, she had a mission; she couldn't get distracted by this…by this…thing.

Pulling herself from her train of thought, Dominique pushed Songbird's hand off of her arm. "Thanks, but I think I'm good."

"Well, just know that me and Wander are-OMIGOSH THE LION IS COMING BACK!" Westley cried, pointing behind Dominique. Spinning around, Dominique saw the lion was indeed charging towards her, its flame mane burning furiously. Under other circumstances, the witch could have been able to use her magic to fling it away or make it small or at least teleport away. But it was moving too fast, and she had no magic left to use and she was so tired.

With no other options, the three braced themselves and closed their eyes, Dominique shielding her face with her hands.

 _'No, this is not part of the story! FREEZE!'_

In an instant, everything was frozen in place, with the lion's jaws mere inches away from Dominique's face.

' _Aahh, that's better. Okay, something is definitely wrong with this story. Must be the ink. Perhaps reprinting it or writing over it will fix it. Just wait right here everyone, and I'll fix this. *walks off, her shoes clicking against the floor, opening and closing a nearby door*_

* * *

A few seconds later, Dominique was surrounded by a bright red glow, which spread to Songbird and Westley. As soon as the glow dissipated, they suddenly started moving again, looking around in confusion. When Dominique moved her hands, she saw the lion and quickly backed away.

"What the flarp is going on?!" The witch cried, looking all around until she finally looked down at her clothing, and her memories started trickling back to her. "And why I am wearing this?! This isn't what I was wearing, what the flarp?!"

"Gen!" Songbird cried happily, his memories coming back to him as well. His seemingly ever-present smile was there, and he immediately relaxed when he saw Genesis, even when everything around him was frozen.

Dominique…no, Genesis did relax a bit when she heard the Orange nomad, but still kept her guard up. She quickly knelt down and hugged him for a few seconds before backing away once more. "Wander, I'm…first off, I'm really glad you're okay. Secondly, I need to ask you something you need to answer honestly: What did you do?"

"Me?! Why, I didn't do I thing-honestly!" Genesis raised an eyebrow, proof that she didn't believe him. "Really Wander? Are you sure, because I know you do mean well, but sometimes you have a way of doing exactly the opposite of what's appropriate for a situation!"

"Well…you do have a point." Wander agreed, tapping his chin.

"Uh…hi, I'm Westley." Westley interrupted, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I hate to interrupt, but-"

"WESTLEY! OH MY GROP I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE! I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH! Wander pulled the watchdog in a big hug, ecstatic to see him again. He hadn't seen the little guy in so long; the last time he saw Westley was two days after their first meeting, when he was still traveling with Syl…with his previous companion. Through his own travels, Wander had heard bits and snippets of how the watchdog was still a do-gooder and had even saved a few planets,which was really nice to hear. It meant his teachings had actually gotten through the excitable, impressionable lad.

Westley was equally happy to see the one who put him on the path to good, and hugged Wander back. He hadn't really spent much time with Wander the first time they meet, and most of that time Westley only cared about bringing Wander and Sylvia in as his prisoners to be recognized by and meet Lord Hater. At least Wander never gave up on him and helped the watchdog realize being good feels better than being bad, something Westley was definitely grateful for.

"H-Hey Wander, it's great to see you too! It's been a while since I've seen you!"

Wander laughed a bit, "Yeah, it has, hasn't it friend? Well, at least we're seeing each other now!"

When the hug ended, Wander decided to introduce Westley his Genesis, especially since she was giving the two the stink eye for just flat out ignoring her.

"Westley, this is my new partner, Genesis! She and I have been traveling for a good while now!"

"Hi Westley, it's nice to meet a friend of Wander's." Genesis said, giving the watchdog a half-hearted smile and shaking his hand firmly. This not quite friendly response made Westley just the slightest bit uncomfortable, but he quickly brushed it off as being caused by this peculiar situation they were in.

"Same here Genesis! I'd like to talk more, but maybe we should get going?"

"Good idea." Genesis agreed, nodding at this. "After all, we don't know how close the person who did…this is."

"That's a wonderful idea!" Wander added, then dipped his hand into his hat. "Let me get some orbble juice and we can-" Wander suddenly stopped, panic writing over the cheerfulness that was on his face. Taking off his hat, he began rummaging even harder and even looked into it. Instead of feeling and seeing a black, endless void, the nomad felt the soft fabric of the inside of the hat. When he finally realized what was happening, his face seemed to go ghost white(despite it being covered in fur).

"M-my hat…it-it's empty. It doesn't…have magic anymore!"

"…Huh…" Genesis blinked, not sure what to say at first, but quickly recovered. "Well, looks like we're walking then. Come on guys."

Still in a state of shock(?), Wander put his hat back on his head with little more than nod and grabbed Genesis by the hand. "Yeah…let's go a walkin'…"

* * *

The three walked along the dusty path, Wander energetically leading the way and bounding forward. By now, the three had put a good distance between the village and themselves, and Wander had put the incident with the hat in the Back of his mind.

It was then Westley decided to ask about something that had been bugging him. "So Wander, where's Sylvia? Are you two still traveling together or-"

"No…not anymore. It's…a long story, one I'd rather not get into right now if that's okay by you."

"Aww, that's too bad. But we all have to move on from the past I guess!"

"Speaking of which," Genesis began quick suddenly, situating herself between the two, "We should probably start thinking about how this could've happened, and more importantly, who did this."

Wander nodded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Let's think-What were we doing before we were here?"

* * *

 **FLASHBACK…**

Wander and Genesis were sitting in one of the meadows of a small, relatively unknown planet. It was warm, sunny day, and the two were just enjoying the nice weather, Genesis reading a book and Wander was picking the flowers while humming contentedly.

Suddenly, as Wander was about to finish pick a daisy for his bouqet, the entire planet began to shake for no logical reason; it wasn't like an earthquake kind of shaking,but it was enough to cause everything on the planet to shudder and sway. Alarmed, Genesis slammed her book and looked up just in time to see the planet was now bathed in bright red light, that seemed to pull everything up towards the atmosphere. No, scratch that-it was _literally_ pulling everything and everyone up!

"Oh my gosh, are we being abducted?!" Wander asked, a mix of excitement and confusion, but never fear, in his voice. Annoyed, Genesis yelled, "I don't see a ship, so I don't think so!"

As Genesis and Wander moved further up, their bodies seem to be more and more transparent and it was getting hard for either to think, or even stay awake. Right before losing consciousness, Genesis muttered, "Activate…chip 2013…now…"

* * *

"…Chip 2013 was a computer chip I had implanted straight into my brain when I worked with the Viper. When activated, it stored all my memories into it and kept then safe." Genesis explained. "We can probably thank it for breaking whatever spell or whatever that was."

"Even if we didn't have our memories, I think I would still be glad just being with my friends!" Wander said, smiling widely. His female companion rolled her eyes good-heartedly, telling him, "Knowing you, that's probably true."

BONK!

"OW!" Westley cried, being hit in the head by a small tree branch that had previously been frozen mid fall. After rubbing his tender head, he spoke,"Huh…looks like time is moving again."

 _'WHAT THE FLARP?!'_

The furious voice boomed through the sky, followed by a immediate, almost terrifying change in the weather. The sky started darkening, the wind started roaring, and everything seemed to crackle with deadly energy.

Of course, the three weren't too intimidated or scared by this; they had all een much worse and much scarier in their travels than a disembodied voice who could control the weather.

After a few seconds, the voice seemed to have 'found them', sounding much closer the next time it spoke.

 _'YOU THREE! HOW AND WHY DID YOU DESTROY MY STORY?! YOU RUINED ALL OF MY HARD WORK, YOU WASTE MY TIME, AND YOU WASTED A PERFECT STORY! REALLY, IT WAS A GOOD STORY; I SPENT A LARGE AMOUNT OF TIME WORKING ON EVERY SINGLE DETAIL, SOME MAY EVEN SAY AN OBSESSIVELY LONG TIME!'_

"So YOU were the one who put us here! You have some nerve messing with us…who are you?!" Genesis screamed at the sky, cupping her hands around her mouth.

 _'I…am…the Wordsmith.'_

"…And I'm supposed to know that name or something?" Genesis mockingly asked, while honestly having no idea who this person was.

"Oh, hi, I'm Wander!" The nomad squeaked, standing up on a medium sized rock and looking around at the sky. "If you don't mind Miss Wordsmith, could you tell us why we're here?"

' _…That…does not matter now. What matters is that the story will. Go. On.'_ The Wordsmith seemed to say this through clinched teeth, still very irate and trying to stop herself from losing her temper.

"What?! No way are any of us gonna listen to you, psycho!"

"Y-yeah, Genesis is right! We aren't gonna listen you!"

 _'Oh, what made you imbeciles think you have a choice?!'_

The ground shuddered briefly, prompting Wander to jump off the dock to avoid getting hurt. Within the blink of an eye, trees and foliage began popping up willy-nilly, and the trail disappeared under the green vines and grass. The trees started moving and switching places, as if trying to get into a particular pattern. Before anyone knew it, Wander was grabbed by the back of his collar by a stray tree branch and was flung from his friends as the tree moved away.

"WANDER!" Genesis tried to grab his hands and jerk him back, but only brushed finger tips before he got too far away. Falling onto her stomach, the green skinned girl and the watchdog could only observe as their friend was swept off out of sight, trying to break free.

"I'LL SEE YOU SOOOON!"

* * *

 **Author's note: Sorry for the really long wait everyone! This took way longer than expected to finish! As usual, I hope you liked this chapter and that you PM or Review what you think, any questions you have or any errors I may have made in this chapter.**

 **Next up: The Wordsmith: Part 2**

 **Key Info.**

 **\- The Search for Wander is on!**

 **\- More evil Wordsmith**

 **\- Moment you've been waiting for!**

 **Thanks for reading, and have a good day!**


	8. The Wordsmith: Part 2

**Chapter Sypnosis: Wander struggles to rejoin the group while searching for a way out of the story. At the same time, Genesis has to decide whether or not she should let herself act on her feelings for Wander.**

 **Characters featured:**

 **\- Wander**

 **\- Genesis(Lord Dominator)**

 **\- Westley**

 **\- The Wordsmith(OC)**

* * *

"WANDER!"

Genesis scrambled to her feet, intent on running after Wander, but even with how fast she was he was gone before she could do anything. Looking at her feet, she saw Wander's hat on the ground, and she could swore it gave an energy of hollowness. As she slowly picked it up, Westley began hyperventilating, starting to panic.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man! Wander's gone what do we do?! I can't even see where we are-" A swift, stinging slap snapped Westley out of hysteria, Genesis being the one to administer the slap. She put Wander's hat under her shoulder, because grop-forbid she would ever be seen wearing that ugly thing!

"Calm down Westley, now. We need to stay focused." Genesis said emotionlessly, struggling to keep herself. She had to take deep, steady breaths, to keep her mind from racing, and analyze everything accordingly. "Okay: Wander went east, but we can't be sure if the tree changed directions. So, we need to find the highest tree in this place and climb it, and hopefully we'll see Wander."

"Wow…that's…a really good idea." "Of course it is. I came up with it." Genesis grinned, crossing her arms. "So, what direction do you think we should go?"

Westley thought about this, looking in all four directions. He took his time, tapping his foot. "Hmmm, I think think we should go…there!" And Westley pointed south; right after he did, a lion roared from that direction.

Right after, the watchdog changed the direction he was pointing from south to north. "There!"

* * *

Wander fell on the ground with a yelp, relieved he had finally got free from the tree branch. Shakily, he pulled himself to his knees, and traced his hands over his body to check for any injuries. For the most part, he was okay; but he soon found a long gash across his forehead. Gently, he pressed his fingers against it; he quickly winced and pulled his fingers away, finding them coated with black blood. The cut wasn't deep, but was deep enough to draw blood.

"H-hello? Gen? Westley?" As Wander called out, he got to his feet, looking around at his surroundings. The trees were tall and the leaves on them blocked a lot of sunlight. In addition to this, the trees were all so close together, it was hard to see very far.

"Oh…oh my…I'm in quite the doozy, am I?…

Okay, it's okay, just…do your thing Wander. Be positive and find a way out." Feeling uncomfortably warm, Wander stripped off all his clothing in a flash, leaving only his boots on. Then, he ripped off one of the sleeves of the shirt, feeling a twinge of guilt as he did so. "Sorry Miss Wordsmith-I hope you didn't spend too much time making this."

After ripping the sleeve off, he tied it around his his head, making sure it covered the gash and applied the right amount of pressure to it.

"Alrighty, now to look at my surroundings." Wander clapped his hands together, putting on a hopeful smile. "Okay, so it's…dark, but nice and warm! I can't see where Genesis and Westley are. But it's okay, because I'm still alive and I know I can find my friends!"

Wander felt relatively hopeful, but his smile shrunk as he realized how…alone he was. Not only was he totally vulnerable, but he didn't even know where Genesis was or if she was okay. But he knew he couldn't think too much on that-he would become a pessimist if he did that! No, he would stay positive, as always, and find a way through this.

Looking around, Wander looked down the direction he came from. "If I go this way, then eventually, I'll have to run into Westley and Genesis. Yeah, that sounds good, that sounds like a great plan!"

Wander started walking, leaving his clothes folded neatly in a pile.

* * *

"So, You're a watchdog, right? You were apart of Hater's army once?" "Yep, sure am and sure was Miss Genesis!" Westley replied cheerfully, all the while looking carefully at each of the trees.

Genesis nodded, also looking at each of trees to find the one that was exceptionally tall. "So, how'd you end up in Lord Hater's army? Were you created by him? Was your planet conquered by him and he forced the people to work in his army? Or did he somehow convince you all to join with his 'seductive charm'?"

Westley paused, a little puzzled as to why the green skinned girl chose now to talk about this, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Um…I'm not really comfortable answering that. It's more of a personal thing. Sorry."

"Eh, it's okay; I don't like talking about my past either. What's done is done, and we shouldn't focus on it, am I right?" Genesis said, giving the watchdog a wink and a smile.

"Yeah, that's really-" "Wait, I think I found the tree!" Genesis grabbed Westley and got him to look at the tree. It had a thick stump, and the tree seems to go further than the tops of the other trees. "What do you think?"

"…Yeah, that looks good. It doesn't hurt to try!"

"Good, then let's get going." Without warning, Genesis threw Westley into the air and watched as he was flung away screaming. After waiting a few seconds with Westley not coming back down, the conqueress decided Westley must have gotten to the top of the tree. "DON'T WORRY WES, I'M COMING UP!"

Genesis pulled on a thick vine that was hanging on one of the tree branches. Roping the vine around the tree, she began shimmying up the tree.

 _'Hello Genesis~'_

"What?! You?!" Genesis cried out, almost losing her balance from how suddenly the Wordsmith' s voice rang out.

 _'Yes, it is me, the Wordsmith. I'd just like to issue an apology for my…outburst earlier. It was extremely childish and not at all how I usually am, and I feel you've got the wrong impression about this world from it.'_

"Shut up, I know exactly what this world is-a prison! And I don't do prisons!"

 _'Come on my dear,_ _don't be like that. I'm just trying to make a good story, that's all I want. Think about it-you and your friends_ _are the_ main characters _of this story, in a world where no one ages and you can shape it the way you want to. If you work with me and complete this story, I can create an entirely new story for each of you where you control everything.'_

Yeah, that's another thing I don't do-negotiating with people who want to put me in jail. No deal!"

 _'Okay then, be that way. But don't say I never offered.'_

Abruptly, the vine Genesis was using to shimmy up the tree seemed to be ripped out of her hands; she was barely able to keep her grip on the tree as she held onto a nearby tree branch. Groaning, Genesis continued climbing her way up.

* * *

A few minutes later, Genesis was able to pull herself onto a sturdy tree branch, leaning against the trunk of a tree and rubbing her aching hands. Sitting next to her on the tree branch was Westley, who had his arms crossed as he looked at Genesis.

"Come on Genesis, throwing me into the tree like that wasn't cool!"

Genesis smirked, pulling herself into a position where her feet were hanging off the side. "Hey, would you've preferred having to climb all the way up here?"

"…No." Westley admitted sheepishly, his hands falling to his lap.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." With that, Genesis began to gaze upon the wild forest, but was disappointed to see most of the forest was shielded by the thick tree tops. "Man, look at this place: it'll take forever to find Wander ."

"Yeah, it is. Maybe we can try doing one of those smoke signal thingies!" Westley suggested while he kicked his legs back and forth. Genesis immediately shook her head.

"No, that wouldn't work either. Wander probably wouldn't be able to see it through the trees. But if I know Wander, he'll find a way to find us in no time flat."

"Yeah, that's probably true…hey Genesis, can I ask you something?" The watchdog turned to look at the beauty, shifting a bit uneasily. Genesis gave him a sideways-glance before looking back at the forest. "You already asked one, but go on ahead."

"Are you in love with Wander?" In an instant, Genesis spun herself around to face Westley, her face in disbelief. "What?! In love with-Wander?! What-What the flarp made you think THAT?!" She sputtered.

Westley began, "I don't know how to explain it, but…The energy between you and Wander…feels different than the energy Wander and Sylvia had when they were together. Like, you two care for each other, but on like, a deeper level? Do you know what I mean?"

In love with Wander? Genesis couldn't bear the idea of it. Yes, she had traveled with Wander and kept up the Genesis persona for far longer than she had thought. Yes, she had formed a friendship with the Wander that, admittedly, made her feel less lonely and helped temporarily heal the hole in her heart that-. But, that was nothing to her; she could easily overcome that friendship for her plan, and any so called grief would be fixed by getting whatever was in that tomb. But romance…she had seen what it had done to stronger villains, and she didn't want that to happen to her. It _couldn't_ happen to her-Lord Dominator, the greatest villain in this galaxy and every other galaxy.

"…Genesis?"

Shaking her head, Genesis scooted away from Westley. "No, actually, I _don't_ know what you mean. If I were you, I would jut mind your own business!"

Westley held his hand in the air, torn between grabbing her arm and leaving her be. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I said mind your business!" Still peeved, she shoved Westley with one of her hand. The shove was much harder than Genesis intended it to be, and Westley began falling backwards and flailing his arms before falling off the tree branch. As Westley screamed, Genesis rushed to grab him.

As this all happened, the environment rapidly shifted and changed into a much darker, much damper environment. The tree seemed to disappear, and Genesis began falling as well. Very soon, much sooner than either expect to hit the ground, the two hit a cool, rocky surface.

 _'Hello, it's me again. I know you said not to bother you anymore, but I believe I jut saved your lives! Seriously, try to be more careful here!'_

Standing up, the two took in their surroundings. It was a round tunnel, carved cleanly from Gray rock, with torches lining the wall and water dripping from the ceiling here and there.

"It's…a tunnel. " Genesis stated the obvious, puzzled.

 _'Yes, it is. The setting is actually for one of my choose-your-adventure stories "Escape the Dreaded Dungeon".'_

"Nice story name. Soooo creative." Genesis said sarcastically.

 _'Are you done?…Good, so let's make a deal, shall we? If you can get through my dungeon-'_

"Whoa, hold the phone!" The pink eyed woman interrupted, crossing her arms stubbornly. "I told you once, and I'm not telling you again-I'm not negotiating with you!"

"Genesis, wait!" Westley pulled on her arm, prompting Genesis to actually look the watchdog in the eyes-or, eye, actually. "We should try working with her! I mean, we have no idea how to get out, and she might be our only chance!"

 _'Westley hit the nail on the head with that. If you don't cooperate, then you'll all just be stuck here forever, like all my other real life characters were.'_

Genesis clenched and unclenched her fists, before finally coming to a decision.

"…Fine, we'll play along. So, we just need to get through your dungeon and we'll be free?"

 _'Correct, Miss Genesis.'_

"Well, what about Wander? Is he okay." Genesis nearly snarled as the Wordsmith laughed lightly at this question.

 _'He is fine: he'll join you two when you finish the dungeon. And, if you manage to meet up with him before finishing the dungeon, you get a special surprise!'_

"Yeah, whatever, come on Westley, let's go." Genesis grabbed two of the torches, handing one of them to Westley.

 _'Okay then, but beware this warning: if you die in this world, you die_ for real. _So, don't do anything idiotic, will you?'_

Genesis stood silent for a few moments, absorbing that information. Of course they would die for real in this story, place…whatever, why not? Then, she quickly moved forward, with Westley right behind her.

* * *

Wander looked around the tunnel, eyes wide in confusion and shock that he ended up in a whole new environment _again._

"Uh…hello, my name's Wander! Anyone here?" Wander called out, taking a tentative step forward.

 _'Greetings Wander! I'm thankful you're not hurt!'_

Wander perked up when he heard the Wordsmith speak,relieved to know he wasn't alone. And going by what she said, there was hope that she was going to help him. "Hiya Miss Wordsmith! Boy, am I glad to hear you! Could you spare a few minutes to explain what happened please?"

 _'Oh, sorry about all this, but the other story was unfortunately corrupted, so I had to move you three to a story that would fit your free-spirited, strong willed natures. She can't seem to find your friends, but I assure you, they're fine. So, do you need any help getting your way through here?'_

"Oh boy, do I ever! Having a friend with me will make things even better!"

 _'I am so delighted to hear that. Let us continue with this wondrous quest!'_

"YEEHAW!" Wander bravely ran into the darkness, unaware of the Wordsmith's true plans for him.

* * *

Westley and Genesis stood in front of a fork in the roa-…tunnel, both paths equally pitch black. Neither dared to get any closer than 5 feet away from the fork in the tunnel, not knowing what was on the paths.

"Okay, there's two pathways: one going left, one going right." Genesis stated, directing each of her hands at each of the paths. "Since this is some sort of self-insert book, we know we have a 50% chance of choosing the safe one, and a 50% chance we die. So, we have to choose wisely."

"…Wanna flip a coin?" Westley asked, somehow finding a coin in his costume. Genesis sighed, then nodded.

"Yeah, sure."

The watchdog seemed to smile, then handed his torch to Genesis. "Great! Heads left, tails right!" With another nod from Genesis, Westley flicked the coin into the air. Both watched as the coin flew into the air, then fell onto the ground.

It landed on tails.

"Alright, the right path it is then." "Yeah, all right!" Westley jumped up, pumping his hands in the air.

"Great enthusiasm. You can go first."

"What?!" Westley screeched, his emotions immediately changing from happy to terrified. "But-but what if there's a monster waiting to eat me?!"

"Relax dweeb, if there was a monster, it won't want just a snack-pack. Besides, you're smaller and faster, so you'll be able to get away easier."

"Okay…" Westley said, still not completely convinced. The green skinned girl handed him his torch, then watched as he slowly moved down the right passageway. A few, very tense, very silent moments passed. Then, Westley's voice rang out,

"Hey Genesis, check this out! It's some sort of treasure chest!"

"Really?" Running after Westley, Genesis found him sitting on his knees in front of an open treasure chest. The treasure chest looked like any other treasure chest one would see in stories, being built with brown wood and silver metal. "Sweet! Treasure! What do we got?"

"Eh, it's not really much. Just a couple of swords." "A couple of swords?! Are you kidding me?! That's exactly what we need! Let me see 'em!" Pushing Westley aside, Genesis grabbed one of the swords and whistled. It was perfect: a firm, leather handle, made of thin, 3 foot long silver steel, sharpened to the point of possibly being able to split a hair. "Nice! Come on Westley, take one so we can go!"

"I don't know, I don't like using weapons anymore-" Genesis rolled her eyes and interrupted the watchdog. "UGH, this isn't the time for stuff like that. Just shut up and take the sword already!"

Shoving a sword identical to hers(only smaller so he can carry it), Genesis found where the path continued behind a pile of loose rocks. "Come on, let's go!" Genesis yelled, kicking the loose rocks away. Westley sighed, slouching a bit.

* * *

"Soooo, I just choose one?"

 _'That's correct. Be wary, for you can't go back once you choose a path.'_

Wander was currently in the same predicament Genesis and Westley were in(though he didn't know it, of course). There was two paths ahead of him, both veiled in darkness. His eyes darted between the two choices, not sure what to pick.

Finally, he asked, "Well, what do you think?"

 _'M-Me? No, you're not supposed to ask me, I'm the narrator. You're the protagonist, so you should make the decision-I **insist.'**_

Wander still felt very unsure, but decided that it was really time to get a move on and randomly picked a path. "Then I choose left, cause most people aren't left handed!"

 _'That, my friend, doesn't make sense. But whatever you say!'_

The nomad laughed inwardly, but was also excited that she called him her friend. Walking in the left direction, Wander kept a smile on his face and remained totally calm.

Without warning, Wander was thrown backwards, skidding against the ground on his left side. Lifting the upper half of his body up, Wander watched as huge, writhing mass of muddy brown snake heads crawled out of the darkness, hissing venomously(pun intended).

 _'A monster has approached you! What will you do? Fight or flee down the tunnel?'_

Jumping to his feet, Wander looked around and grabbed a torch from the wall. He quickly snuffed out the flame against the dirt; just as the monster seemed to be ready to attack, Wander waved the stick around playfully, a wide smile again on his face. At first, the monster looked confused, all the snake heads tilting their heads in the same direction. Then, the monster became excited, its tail(?) wagging like a dog's would when it's happy.

"Hey there boy! Wanna-wanna get the stick? Do you? Well then GO GET IT!" Wander chucked the stick as far as he could down the right path(which was pretty darn far), and watched the monster yelp as it ran after the stick.

 _'Oh…well, that should function as well as the flee option would've been. Anyway, we can continue now!'_

"Great! Okay!" Wander once again ran down the path, the loose bandages around his head wildly streaming behind him.

* * *

Very soon, Wander reached a sparkling pond in a large, open area of the cavern. All the walls were covered in glimmering, reflective gems, making the scene even more beautiful. "Wow…incredible…"

Looking into the water, Wander soon noticed something at the bottom of the sparkling pond, just out of reach.

 _'Alright, looks like there's two options. You could dive in the water to investigate the strange object in the water OR go around the pond.'_

"Hmm…"

* * *

"Hmm…" Genesis looked at the pond thoughtfully, weighing her options carefully.

* * *

"I'm gonna go in the pond!" Wander declared, getting ready to dive in.

* * *

"We're gonna go around it." Genesis said, followed by a audible "Awww…" from Westley, who also know arguing was pointless.

* * *

While Westley and Genesis moved on the edge of the pool of water, Wander swam farther into it, and soon reached the bottom. At the bottom of the pond, Wander saw a gold pair of gauntlets, sticking out of the dirt, and immediately went to retrieve it. When he did, he swam back to the surface, then put them on.

* * *

For the next few hours, the Wander and Westley and Genesis all followed a path parallel yet opposite to each other. For instance, while Wander would opt for feeding the magic frog, which led to him almost being swallowed whole by the animal, Genesis decided to not only not feed the frog, but to kick it into a nearby hole.

Though there were a few times the two groups made the same decision, like when they were faced with choice of either going into the obviously haunted part of the cavern, or to face the smelly, green monster. They all picked the haunted path, because the monster was super gross(though Wander and Westley took care in comforting the monster after)¹.

By the time the two groups reached an out of place dead end, Wander was wearing the gold gauntlets, a new wrapping of bandages around his head, and a purple gem amulet. Westley's clothes were much dirtier after the trip through the cave, and Genesis ripped her skirt to reach her knees and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail.

Looking up, Wander could see a small hole, big enough for him to squeeze through. Quick on his feet, Wander climbed up the cave wall, not waiting for Wordsmith to speak to know what to do. Letting his arms go first, Wander wiggled his way through the opening, laughing in triumph when he popped through. He landed on his feet, pausing to brush the dust off his fur.

 _'Great job Wander! That was really quick thinking there!'_

"Thanks! Come on, let's go!"

 _'Sounds fantastic._

* * *

"UGH, COME ON!" "OWW, YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

"FINE!" The green skinned girl pulled Westley out of the hole, then let him fall on the ground. "GROP, your eye is so huge!"

She had tried, and failed, to push Westley through the tiny hole in the dead end. There was no way she could wiggle through, no matter how nimble she was. And now she knew there was no way Westley could fit through it.

"Now we know that that isn't going to work. Any other ideas of what to do?" Genesis asked, slumping against the wall.

"We could…ask that monster from earlier to break the wall down."

"Eww, no! That guy smelt horrible, like rotten eggs!" Westley slumped against the wall as well, trying to think of another plan. The emerald green conqueress tapped her fingers against her thigh, deep in thought.

Then, Westley spoke up, "Do you think Wander is in the same situation we are?"

"I dunno…maybe. That Wordsmith is insane, so I wouldn't put it past her to mess with Wander too. Grop, she's probably listening to us this very moment!" Genesis cried, waving her hands for dramatic effect and then letting them flop back into her lap. "But like I said earlier, Wander will be able to tough things out."

"Yeah, he's great!" Gen nodded. She then took a deep breath, knowing she had to say what's on her mind before she thought it through and chickened out.

"Do you think Wander-" Genesis stopped when she and Westley heard what sounded like a car's tires screeching behind them. Before either of them can move or turn their heads, a taxi crashed through the wall, flinging them a good couple of feet. Amazingly, neither of them are injured.

"Oh, seems we've finally arrived. Salutations comrades!" The taxi's door opened up, and stepped out of it was an older gentleman, most likely in his late fifties, wearing a dark blue suit, black dress shoes, a white undershirt and a red bow tie. He stood at 6 and a half feet and was as skinny as a toothpick; he had lavender skin, salt and pepper hair neatly combed back, and 4 icy blue eyes.

"Who are you?" Westley asked, eye widening at the sudden appearance of this stranger.

"I am the _real_ Wordsmith. The one you are acquainted with is a charlatan, but I know her as my granddaughter."

"What?! Your granddaughter?! Why the flarp would she do that?!" Genesis asked, ready to flat out demand an explanation if he wasn't planning on giving one. Luckily for everyone, he was.

"Let me begin with saying that I was the one who made this story, as well as many stories like this. Using Ak'om technology and my species' innate magic aptness, I created a story that allowed people to actually go inside it and act out amazing adventures and epic romances without hefty consequences."

"Hehe, so like LARPing-" "SHHH!" Westley told Genesis, wanting the older man to continue his story. When complete silence fell, the Wordsmith went on,

"It was, as I saw it, my fait accompli; the use of this method was esoteric however, as it took a large amount of magic and it wasn't yet known if it was dangerous or not. Only I and a small group of very trusted friends could use Now, my granddaughter, while scintillating, was not someone to be trusted with my books."

"So, basically, she got angry and trapped you in your own stories?"

The real Wordsmith nodded, "Precisely. She became a svengali, taking random people, controlling them, terrorizing them. Of course, since these were my stories, I know my way around them, but I couldn't destroy the boundaries of the story without outside help. I was forced to delay my plan to escape until the right people came along to assist me. On that note, it is not necessary to thank me for breaking Gerda's hold over you."

"First of all, I'm gonna assume sven-gali means crazy-head, so I agree with you on that. Secondly, Gerda is her ACTUAL name?!" Genesis asked unbelieving-she would've found it funny under other circumstances. "Thirdly, what do you mean YOU broke the spell?! MY brain chip was what gave us back our memories."

"Come now, think rationally Miss Genesis; Why would a technology meant to store only your memories affect your companions? Besides, I can see by your actions earlier that you never even met Westley before, so your chip wouldn't have any memories of his to restore."

"I also have a question," Westley began raising his hand before beginning , "If you were waiting for us, why'd it take so long for you to get here?"

"Because, I was in one of granddaughter's failed stories 'The Taxi-Man Who's Always Late'!" The Wordsmith added an icy glare directed at the taxi driver to the statement. The taxi driver cringed. "Sorry…you still owe me a couple of credits-"

"JUST GET OUTTA HERE!" The tires squealed as soon as Genesis screamed at the driver, the car backing out and disappearing into the nothingness. "Finally."

Genesis turned back to the older man, her anger fading when she realized how valuable he could be. "So, you know how to get out of this place?"

"Yes, but we have to move posthaste. Your friend Wander has been duped by my granddaughter and is in grave danger." "Then what are we waiting for?!" Westley asked, jumping up and pressing his eye against the Wordsmith's face. "Lead the way, and we'll follow!"

Genesis nodded, though she still wasn't entirely trusting of this stranger who just appeared a few minutes ago, as to be expected of someone in her position. Still, this was the only option they had, and if Wander really was in danger, she had to listen to this guy.

* * *

For an old man, the Wordsmith was awfully fast; Genesis and Wordsmith ran at the same fast-pace down the winding and twisting cave halls, with Westley pushing himself to run as fast as he can just to keep up.

"Come on, come on, we have to be close…"

"How do we know the Wordsmith isn't making the hallway longer?" "Trust me, she can't fully master the power of manipulating live story-lands, and she is most definitely still occupied with your companion."

Westley gasps, pointing forward. "Hey, I see Wander! WANDER!"

The three ran into a large, open space of the cave, where Wander was standing in front of what looked to be a glass statue of the female 'Wordsmith' in a elegant dress, with a plain wooden altar in front of it.

"Wow, this is an interestin' decoration you have here."

"WANDER, TURN AROUND! IT'S US!"

"Halt, stop!" The three came to a screeching halt, stopping right in front of an almost invisible bubble surrounding the altar, the statue and Wander. Genesis pounded and kicked on the bubble, trying to crack them open.

"Wander can you hear us?! WANDER!" Genesis screamed, but Wander didn't hear her. He remained focused on the altar, tracing his hands against it. She turned to the older man, "What's that altar supposed to do?!"

"I don't think…you would want to hear, but I'll say that my species' magic is reliant on life energy."

"What's that sup-oh…oh…" Westley trailed off, then proceeded to faint. Genesis grabbed the watchdog, shaking him: "Seriously?! I mean, that's so weak dude!"

* * *

Wander looked up, looking for the 'Wordsmith' for guidance. "So what should I do now Miss Wordsmith?"

 _'Lay on your back on the altar, cross your arms across your chest and close your eyes. Maintain that position and I'll be able to get you oug. Simplicity itself.'_

Wander frowned at this, hesitant. "I…don't know. What about Gen and Westley? I want them to come with me. Maybe…I should go back-"

 _'NO!…I…mean no. You really must hurry, you won't get another chance to get out. I'll stay and make sure your friends get out as soon as possible.'_

The wanderer seemed partially satisfied with the answer, nodding at this explanation. "Well, alright then. Better get to it!"

 _'Now THAT'S the spirit!'_

* * *

Westley and Genesis continued to kick and yell as Wander jumped onto the altar, the monad oblivious to the remains of previous victims be was stepping on. His friends continued trying to get Wander's attention with no luck. The Wordsmith just stood there, his arms crossed.

"Conserve your energy; this bubble can't be broken until the last moment, as per the rules of quote on quote "dramatic tension"."

"I DON'T CARE! JUST TRY **SOMETHING** , FOR FLARP'S SAKE!" Genesis screeched, some of her spittle hitting The Wordsmith in the face. Scowling, the wordsmith took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face with it.

"Yes, that's the obvious solution to this predicament. No need to be such a brat about it." Turning to the bubble, the Wordsmith summoned a safety pin, twisted it so the sharp end is sticking out. With a simple motion, the bubble pops in a way reminiscent of a balloon, complete with the sound of a balloon popping.

"WANDER!" Genesis screeched. Wander craned his head to Genesis, his eyes wide. "Gen?"

The statue suddenly came to life, the clasped hands lifted over Wander with open palms, and the statue's eyes opening as Big as saucers. A bright red light from the eyes and palms surrounded Wander, leaving him paralyzed. "Oh dear…"

"I GOT THIS!" Genesis ripped her sword from its place tied on her outfit and threw it at the statue, letting out a warcry as she did. The sword hit the statue square in the chest, shattering it into pieces. "WANDER!"

Genesis pulled Wander into a huge hug, the nomadic eagerly accepting it. When the two parted, Genesis began examining the nomad. "Are you okay? Did any glass get on you?" Because if he was hurt, she could lose her key-that was her reasoning, she told herself.

"No, I'm fine and dandy. Are you alright?" "Heh, who cares about me?"

"I DO!²" The two looked into each other's eyes for a brief moment, so close their lips were only centimeters apart. It may have been because she was so tired, or that she thought it would advance her master plan somehow, or maybe she had a brain fart that moment; in an instant, Genesis wrapped her arms around Wander's waist and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss.

The star warrior froze for a few seconds, but quickly melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around the green beauty's neck and closing him eyes. She smelt so…well, she smelt sweaty, but Wander didn't mind that.

And then, as abruptly as she started the kiss, Genesis pulled Wander away from her, shocked that she actually just kissed Wander. Wander remained in a state of dazed bliss, smiling even more stupidly than he usually does.

"Oh grop, I didn't mean that. That was a mistake!" Genesis began walking away, smacking herself internally for acting so irrationally, so stupidly in the moment. "I need a moment…"

At this, Wander pulled himself out of his trance and started to go after her. "Huh?! Gen,wait!"

* * *

Before anything else could be done, the world began to shake uncontrollably and fall apart, an animalistic growl echoing through the cave.

 _**'I will not be defeated and taken off my throne by you four! INKLINGS, DESTROOOYYY THEEEEMMMM!'**_

The colors of the room shifted and reformed into bulking, humanoids with absolutely no facial features. They varied in colors,some completely black while others looked like a rainbow.

"Keep your ground comrades; without a power source, this world will fall apart!" The Wordsmith tucked the still unconscious Wander under his arm, preparing his magic for a fight. Wander went and retrieved Genesis' sword from the pile of glass, the woman in question grabbing the sword and pushing Wander behind her. "Wander, stay close."

"Wait! We can't kill 'em Gen!"

"I'm not-unless they attack me first." Genesis retorted. It was then an Inkling charged at her, and she struck it down with two sword swings. "See what I mean?"

 _ **'ARE YOU DEAF?! ATTACK-NOW!'**_

The Inklings began rushing the four; Genesis and the Wordsmith did surprisingly well standing their ground against the overwhelming forces. Genesis cut one Inkling's arms off, chopped one Inkling's head off, and slashed a vertical line into the third.

"SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!" Wander yelled as each Inkling turned to a puddle of black ink(hence the name) and was essentially killed.

"HA! YOU WANT SOME MORE?!" Genesis yelled, kicking a red ink monster in the jaw. As she did so, their surroundings began shaking even worse. The Wordsmith looked up at the ceiling, getting an idea.

"Genesis, I need you to throw the sword into the ceiling as hard as you can! If we push against the book's boundaries a bit, we'll have an escape route! " "What?! Are you FLARPING kiddin' Me?! That's totally stupid!" Genesis yelled, punching an Inkling in the neck.

"Genny, we gotta trust him!" Wander told his friend, gripping her hand as his back pushed against hers.

"…Alright, here we GO!" Genesis threw the sword with all her power to the ceiling; as it flew, the Wordsmith blasted it with a gold ball of energy, making it glow the same color.

The sword made contact with the ceiling. The ceiling cracked completely, exposing a pure white light that twirled and swirled like a black hole. Genesis, Wander, Westley, and the Wordsmith were lifted towards the ceiling as iron is attracted to a magnet.

 _ **'What! You idiots! This isn't the end!'**_

"Yeah, I think it is! Sorry,but not really~" "WOOHOO!"

The 'Wordsmith' tried to regain control and pull the world back together, straining all her magic. And yet, she still felt the control she had over this world slip through her fingers. With no other option, she went to her last resort…

* * *

The book fell on the ground as the fake Wordsmith ran away. Westley, Wander, Genesis and the Wordsmith were flung out of the book, landing haphazardly onto the floor.

"Yes, I'm free, I'm finally free! YAHOOO!" The Wordsmith cheered, jumping to his feet. "Much thanks for your assistance friends-if you'll excuse me, I'm going to burn all my books."

The Wordsmith walked away, leaving his former companions lying on the ground. Wesley also regained consciousness, eyeball fluttering open. When he looked around, he jumped up in excitement.

"We did it! We're out! Yeah!" Genesis rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but chose to said nothing. Westley proceeded to pull Wander and Genesis into a big hug. "Thank you guys so much! I hope I'll see you two soon!"

Westley ran off as well, his eye curved into a smile.

"Huh…so that happened."

Wander turned to his companion, a sweet little smile on his face.

"You're a really good kisser Gen."

Genesis immediately blushed a luminescent green, finding herself at a loss of words. Of all the things, he said that…

"…Thanks. You too." Wander nodded.

"Welp, time to get going…"

"Yeah. Hope we can find our way out…" Genesis laughed. Tenderly, Wander grabbed his partner's hand, giving her a kind, loving gaze.

 _'Yeah, this could work out…this will be so much more fun.'_ Genesis thought to herself, hiding a villainous smirk.

* * *

 **Author's note: And I'm finally done with this chapter! I hope I did a good job with the ending of this chapter! Please PM or review me your opinion of this chapter.**

 **Next up: The Boy Wander and The Missing Feathers.**

 **Important info:**

 **\- Hero Wander appears**

 **\- Even more OCs!**

 **\- LET THE PUN FIT THE CRIME!**


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